Japan and Nuclear Energy.
November 12, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5 1999 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

The world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 took place in Japan on September 30. Three people are seriously ill and there are concerns about the health of many other people. This is one of Japan’s worst disasters of any type since 1945.

In the past month, there has been a continuing debate over the role of nuclear energy in Japan. Therefore, the September 30 accident may not only be the country’s worst peacetime nuclear incident, but it may also trigger a long public debate over the safety of the Japanese nuclear industry.

The accident took place at Tokaimura, north of Tokyo, in a facility for processing uranium (rather than a nuclear power plant). Three untrained workers, two with no previous experience, were following instructions from a supervisor to break the guidelines on handling nuclear material. They tried to save time with the technique they used and they used too much uranium. These two errors meant that they created a chain reaction, which ran for 18 hours and which is the forerunner to a nuclear explosion.

Japan has been the only country to suffer from nuclear attacks: the 1945 American attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each August, on the anniversaries of those bombing raids, many Japanese civil society organizations recommit themselves to their campaign against nuclear weapons.

Therefore, it seems odd that Japan should be so heavily involved in the civilian use of nuclear power. Only France and the United States are heavier users of nuclear energy than is Japan. Japan has 51 nuclear reactors, producing about one-third of Japan’s electricity needs. But Japan needs nuclear power because it has so little alternative energy sources.

The heavy reliance on nuclear energy is a great potential weakness for a country. If there were a growing opposition to nuclear power, then the country would need to close down its reactors. But it cannot do so without going into a greater economic recession because of the shortage of alternative power sources.

Another problem is that Japan is vulnerable to earthquakes and hurricanes. A natural disaster could trigger a nuclear disaster if an earthquake occurred at a nuclear power plant.

Because Japan has a high population density, nuclear power plants and related activities (such as uranium processing) are situated near to residential sites.

A worry for many people in Japan is that an earthquake could wreck a nuclear facility near them and the authorities would be reluctant to help rescue them because of the risk of radioactive contamination.

Finally, the nuclear industry in most countries with a free mass media has a poor image. But there is a need for balance. Other forms of producing energy (such as coal-mining) are also very dangerous.