Japan ships spent nuclear fuel to France but it would mark the first time since 2001 it has received back reprocessed fuel amid safety concerns by local residents.

French nuclear giant Areva has already reprocessed the used nuclear fuel shipped from three regional power companies -- Kyushu Electric, Shikoku Electric and Chubu Electric -- a person at Areva's Japan branch told AFP.

"This fuel will be sent from Europe to Japan," he said.

The fuel -- so-called mixed oxide (Mox) made of plutonium and reprocessed uranium -- will be used at light-water reactors of the companies based in southern and central Japan.

Japan, which relies on nuclear power plants for nearly one-third of its power demands, has built its own reprocessing plant in northern Aomori prefecture, which is expected to begin operating soon.

But the plant's opening has been delayed as a series of minor accidents stirs up objections from the local community.

The reprocessed fuel would come to Japan in vessels that are armed to deter attacks, the Areva source said.

It would take around two months to transport the fuel from France to Japan using three possible routes -- via the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn or the Panama Canal, he said.

The Japanese government aims to step up the use of nuclear power as the Asian economic power has virtually no natural energy resources.

But public fears rose last year when an earthquake caused a fire and a small radiation leak at the world's biggest nuclear plant of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa northwest of Tokyo.

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