Kansai Electric Power Company has returned 40 unused fuel assemblies from unit 2 of its Mihama nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukui Prefecture to the Westinghouse Springfields nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the UK.

The assemblies left Mihama on 22 November stored in 40 transport containers and arrived at Springfields on 17 January local time after being transported by land and sea.

Mihama 1&2 were permanently closed down in April 2015. Kansai Electric said it had begun decommissioning Mihama 2 in April 2017.

Kansai decided that given the reactors' relatively low electricity outputs the company would be unlikely to recover the costs of work necessary for safety upgrades to extend their lives.