Nuclear energyNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
was a national strategic priority in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, but there has been concern about the ability of Japan's nuclear plants to withstand seismic activity. The
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power PlantThe is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water...
was completely shut down for 21 months following an earthquake in 2007.
Following
an earthquake, tsunamiThe 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
, and the failure of cooling systems at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant on March 11, 2011, a nuclear emergency was declared. This was the first time a nuclear emergency had been declared in Japan, and 140,000 residents within 20 km of the plant were evacuated. The total amount of radioactive material released is unclear, as the crisis is ongoing.
On 6 May 2011, Prime Minister
Naoto Kanis a Japanese politician, and former Prime Minister of Japan. In June 2010, then-Finance Minister Kan was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and designated Prime Minister by the Diet to succeed Yukio Hatoyama. On 26 August 2011, Kan announced his resignation...
ordered the
Hamaoka Nuclear Power PlantThe is a nuclear power plant located in Omaezaki city, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Japan's east coast, 200 km south-west of Tokyo. It is managed by the Chubu Electric Power Company. There are five units contained at a single site with a net area of 1.6 km2 . A sixth unit began construction...
be shut down as an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher is likely to hit the area within the next 30 years. Kan wanted to avoid a possible repeat of the Fukushima disaster. On 9 May 2011, Chubu Electric decided to comply with the government request. Kan later called for a new energy policy with less reliance on nuclear power.
Problems in stabilizing the Fukushima I nuclear plant have hardened attitudes to
nuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. As of June 2011, "more than 80 percent of Japanese now say they are
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
and distrust government information on
radiationIn physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
". Post-Fukushima polls suggest that somewhere "between 41 and 54 percent of Japanese support scrapping, or reducing the numbers of, nuclear power plants". Tens of thousands of people marched in central Tokyo in September 2011, chanting "Sayonara nuclear power" and waving banners, to call on Japan's government to abandon atomic energy. As of October 2011, only 11 nuclear power plants are operating. There have been electricity shortages, but Japan survived the summer without the extensive blackouts that had been predicted. An energy white paper, approved by the Japanese Cabinet in October 2011, says "public confidence in safety of nuclear power was greatly damaged" by the Fukushima disaster, and calls for a reduction in the nation’s reliance on nuclear power.
History
In 1954, Japan budgeted 230 million yen for nuclear energy, marking the beginning of the program. The
Atomic Energy Basic LawThe Atomic Energy Basic Law is a Japanese law passed December 19, 1955. Law number 186. It outlined the basics for the use of nuclear power in Japan.-Article 1 :...
limited activities to only peaceful purposes.
The
first nuclear reactor in JapanThe was Japan's first nuclear power plant. It was built in the early 1960s to the British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. A second nuclear plant, built at the site in the 1970s, was the first in Japan to produce over 1000 MW of electricity, and...
was built by the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's GEC. In the 1970s the first
Light Water ReactorThe light water reactor is a type of thermal reactor that uses normal water as its coolant and neutron moderator. Thermal reactors are the most common type of nuclear reactor, and light water reactors are the most common type of thermal reactor...
s were built in cooperation with American companies. These plants were bought from U.S. vendors such as
General ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
or
WestinghouseWestinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
with contractual work done by Japanese companies, who would later get a license themselves to build similar plant designs. Developments in nuclear power since that time has seen contributions from Japanese companies and research institutes on the same level as the other big users of nuclear power.
Robert Jay LiftonRobert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform...
has asked how Japan, after its experience with the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiDuring the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
, could "allow itself to draw so heavily on the same nuclear technology for the manufacture of about a third of its energy". He says:
There was resistance, much of it from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. But there was also a pattern of denial, cover-up and cozy bureaucratic collusion between industry and government, the last especially notorious in Japan but by no means limited to that country. Even then, pro-nuclear power forces could prevail only by managing to instill in the minds of Japanese people a dichotomy between the physics of nuclear power and that of nuclear weapons, an illusory distinction made not only in Japan but throughout the world.
Japan's nuclear industry was not hit as hard by the effects of the
Three Mile Island accidentThe Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
(TMI) or the
Chernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
as some other countries. Construction of new plants continued to be strong through the 1980s, 1990s, and up to the present day. However, starting in the mid-1990s there were several nuclear related accidents and cover-ups in Japan that eroded public perception of the industry, resulting in protests and resistance to new plants. These accidents included the
Tokaimura nuclear accidentThe Tokaimura nuclear accident , which occurred on 30 September 1999, resulted in two deaths. At that time, it was Japan's worst civilian nuclear radiation accident. The criticality accident occurred in a uranium reprocessing facility operated by JCO , a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co...
, the
Mihama steam explosionThe is operated by The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc. and is in the town of Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, about 320 km west of Tokyo. It is on a site that is 520,000 m2 of which 60% is green space.-Reactors on Site:-Events:...
, cover-ups after an accidents at the Monju reactor, among others, more recently the
Chūetsu offshore earthquakeThe Chūetsu Offshore Earthquake was a powerful magnitude 6.6 earthquake that occurred 10:13 a.m. local time on July 16, 2007, in the northwest Niigata region of Japan. The earthquake shook Niigata and neighbouring prefectures...
aftermath. While exact details may be in dispute, it is clear that the safety culture in Japan's nuclear industry has come under greater scrutiny. Canceled plant orders include:
- The Maki NPP at Maki, Niigata (Kambara)
Maki was a town located in the Nishikanbara District, Niigata, Japan.Maki literally means "meadow", although the name of this town is written as "scroll" by a homonym to distinguish from another Maki in the same prefecture...
—Canceled in 2003
- The Kushima NPP at Kushima, Miyazaki
is a city located in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 22,727 and the density of 77.06 persons per km²...
—1997
- The Ashihama NPP at Ashihama, Mie—2000
- The Hōhoku NPP at Hōhoku, Yamaguchi—1994
- The Suzu NPP at Suzu, Ishikawa
is a city located at the northeasternmost tip of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa, Japan. The city is the proposed site of the Suzu Nuclear Power Plant; however, in 2003 the proposal was "frozen" until further notice....
—2003
On April 18, 2007, Japan and the United States signed the
United States-Japan Joint Nuclear Energy Action PlanThe United States-Japan Joint Nuclear Energy Action Plan is a bilateral agreement aimed at putting in place a framework for the joint research and development of nuclear energy technology. The agreement was signed on April 18, 2007...
, aimed at putting in place a framework for the joint research and development of nuclear energy technology. Each country will conduct research into fast reactor technology, fuel cycle technology, advanced computer simulation and modeling, small and medium reactors, safeguards and physical protection; and nuclear waste management.
In March 2008, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that the start of operation of four new nuclear power reactors would be postponed by one year due to the incorporation of new earthquake resistance assessments. Units 7 and 8 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant would now enter commercial operation on October 2014 and October 2015, respectively. Unit 1 of the Higashidori plant is now scheduled to begin operating in December 2015, while unit 2 will start up in 2018 at the earliest.
As of September 2008, Japanese ministries and agencies were seeking an increase in the 2009 budget by 6%. The total requested comes to 491.4 billion
Japanese yenThe is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
(4.6 billion USD), and the focuses of research are development of the fast breeder reactor cycle, next-generation light water reactors, the
IterITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
project, and seismic safety.
An 2011 independent investigation in Japan has "revealed a long history of nuclear power companies conspiring with governments to manipulate public opinion in favour of nuclear energy". One nuclear company "even stacked public meetings with its own employees who posed as ordinary citizens to speak in support of nuclear power plants".
An energy white paper, approved by the Japanese Cabinet in October 2011, says "public confidence in safety of nuclear power was greatly damaged" by the Fukushima disaster, and calls for a reduction in the nation’s reliance on nuclear power. It also omits a section on nuclear power expansion that was in last year’s policy review.
Seismicity
Japan has had a long history of earthquakes and seismic activity, and destructive
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s, often resulting in
tsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s, occur several times a century. Due to this, concern has been expressed about the particular risks of constructing and operating nuclear power plants in Japan.
Amory LovinsAmory Bloch Lovins is an American environmental scientist and writer, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has worked in the field of energy policy and related areas for four decades...
has said: "An earthquake-and-tsunami zone crowded with 127 million people is an un-wise place for 54 reactors". To date, the most serious seismic-related accident has been the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disasterThe is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...
, following the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiThe 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
.
Professor
Katsuhiko Ishibashiis a professor in the Research Center for Urban Safety and Security in the Graduate School of Science at Kobe University, Japan and a seismologist who has written extensively in the areas of seismicity and seismotectonics in and around the Japanese Islands...
, one of the
seismologistsSeismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic,...
who have taken an active interest in the topic, coined the term
genpatsu-shinsai, meaning nuclear power plant earthquake disaster is a term which was coined by Japanese seismologist Professor Katsuhiko Ishibashi in 1997...
(原発震災), from the Japanese words for "nuclear power" and "quake disaster" to express the potential worst-case catastrophe that could ensue. Dr
Kiyoo MogiDr is a prominent seismologist. He is regarded as Japan's foremost authority on earthquake prediction and is a former chair of the Japanese Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction . Mogi is also a former Director of the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute, was a professor...
, former chair of the Japanese
Coordinating Committee for Earthquake PredictionThe Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction in Japan was founded in April 1969, as part of the Geodesy Council's Second Earthquake Prediction Plan, in order to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of earthquake data in Japan. The committee consists of 30 members and meets four times each...
, has expressed similar concerns, stating in 2004 that the issue 'is a critical problem which can bring a catastrophe to Japan through a man-made disaster'.
Hidekatsu Yoshiiis a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives for Japanese Communist Party.A native of Kyoto, Kyoto and graduate of Kyoto University, he was elected to the first of his three terms in the city assembly of Sakai, Osaka in 1971 and then to his one term in the assembly of Osaka...
, a member of the
House of RepresentativesThe is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
for
Japanese Communist PartyThe Japanese Communist Party is a left-wing political party in Japan.The JCP advocates the establishment of a society based on socialism, democracy and peace, and opposition to militarism...
and a anti-nuclear campaigner, warned in March and October 2006 about the possibility of the severe damage that might be caused by a tsunami or earthquake. During a parliamentary committee in May 2010 he made similar claims, warning that the cooling systems of a Japanese nuclear plant could be destroyed by a landslide or earthquake. In response Yoshinobu Terasaka, head of the
Nuclear and Industrial Safety AgencyThe is a Japanese nuclear regulatory and oversight branch of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It was created in 2001 during the 2001 Central Government Reform. It has a main office in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo that works with the...
, replied that the plants were so well designed that 'such a situation is practically impossible'.
Following damage at the
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power PlantThe is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water...
due to the
2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquakeThe Chūetsu Offshore Earthquake was a powerful magnitude 6.6 earthquake that occurred 10:13 a.m. local time on July 16, 2007, in the northwest Niigata region of Japan. The earthquake shook Niigata and neighbouring prefectures...
, Kiyoo Mogi called for the immediate closure of the
Hamaoka Nuclear Power PlantThe is a nuclear power plant located in Omaezaki city, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Japan's east coast, 200 km south-west of Tokyo. It is managed by the Chubu Electric Power Company. There are five units contained at a single site with a net area of 1.6 km2 . A sixth unit began construction...
, which was knowingly built close to the centre of the expected
Tōkai earthquakeThe Tōkai earthquakes are major earthquakes that have occurred regularly with an interval of 100 to 150 years in the Tōkai region of Japan. The Tokai segment has been struck by earthquakes in 1498, 1605, 1707 and 1854...
. Katsuhiko Ishibashi previously claimed, in 2004, that Hamaoka was 'considered to be the most dangerous nuclear power plant in Japan'.
The
International Atomic Energy AgencyThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA) has also expressed concern. At a meeting of the
G8'sThe Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
Nuclear Safety and Security Group, held in Tokyo in 2008, an IAEA expert warned that a strong
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
with a magnitude above could pose a 'serious problem' for Japan's nuclear power stations.
Before Fukushima, "14 lawsuits charging that risks had been ignored or hidden were filed in Japan, revealing a disturbing pattern in which operators underestimated or hid seismic dangers to avoid costly upgrades and keep operating. But all the lawsuits were unsuccessful".
Design standards
Between 2005 and 2007, three Japanese nuclear power plants were shaken by earthquakes that far exceeded the maximum
peak ground accelerationPeak ground acceleration is a measure of earthquake acceleration on the ground and an important input parameter for earthquake engineering, also known as the design basis earthquake ground motion...
used in their design. The
tsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
that followed the
2011 Tōhoku earthquakeThe 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
, inundating the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, was more than twice the design height, while the ground acceleration also slightly exceeded the design parameters.
In 2006 a Japanese government subcommittee was charged with revising the national guidelines on the earthquake-resistance of nuclear power plants, which had last been partially revised in 2001, resulting in the publication of a new seismic guide — the 2006
Regulatory Guide for Reviewing Seismic Design of Nuclear Power Reactor Facilities. The subcommittee membership included Professor Ishibashi, however his proposal that the standards for surveying active faults should be reviewed was rejected and he resigned at the final meeting, claiming that the review process was 'unscientific' and the outcome rigged to suit the interests of the
Japan Electric AssociationThe is a membership organisation for the electricity sector in Japan and, although it has roots dating back to 1892, was founded in October 1921...
, which had 11 of its committee members on the 19-member government subcommittee. Ishibashi has subsequently claimed that, although the new guide brought in the most far-reaching changes since 1978, it was 'seriously flawed' because it underestimated the
design basis earthquake ground motionPeak ground acceleration is a measure of earthquake acceleration on the ground and an important input parameter for earthquake engineering, also known as the design basis earthquake ground motion...
. He has also claimed that the enforcement system is 'a shambles' and questioned the independence of the
Nuclear Safety CommissionJapan's is a commission established within the Cabinet of Japan as an independent agency to play the main role in nuclear safety administration. Commissioners are appointed by the Prime Minister of Japan on Diet approval...
after a senior Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official appeared to rule out a new review of the NSC's seismic design guide in 2007.
Following publication of the new 2006 Seismic Guide, the
Nuclear and Industrial Safety AgencyThe is a Japanese nuclear regulatory and oversight branch of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It was created in 2001 during the 2001 Central Government Reform. It has a main office in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo that works with the...
, at the request of the Nuclear Safety Commission, required the design of all existing nuclear power plants to be re-evaluated.
Geological surveys
The standard of geological survey work in Japan is another area causing concern. In 2008 Taku Komatsubara, a
geologistGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at the
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and TechnologyThe , or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge to address socio-economic needs...
alleged that that the presence of active faults was deliberately ignored when surveys of potential new power plant sites were undertaken, a view supported by a former
topographerTopography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
. Takashi Nakata, a seismologist from the
Hiroshima Institute of Technologyis a private university in Saeki, Hiroshima, Japan. It was established by Tsuru Gakuen in 1961 as a two-year college, and became a four-year university in 1963, taking its present name....
has made similar allegations, and suggest that conflicts of interest between the Japanese nuclear industry and the regulators contribute to the problem.
Nuclear power plants
For a list of nuclear reactors in Japan , see List of nuclear reactors or List of power stations in Japan.
Following the Fukushima I nuclear accidents Prime Minister
Naoto Kanis a Japanese politician, and former Prime Minister of Japan. In June 2010, then-Finance Minister Kan was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and designated Prime Minister by the Diet to succeed Yukio Hatoyama. On 26 August 2011, Kan announced his resignation...
has announced that all 6 of the reactors at the
Fukushima I Nuclear Power PlantThe , also known as Fukushima Dai-ichi , is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. First commissioned in 1971, the plant consists of six boiling water reactors...
will be decommissioned. The plant operators had previously stated that reactors 1 to 4 would never operate again.
Nuclear accidents
In terms of consequences of radiation release, worker exposure, and core damage the Fukushima I nuclear accidents in 2011 were the worst experienced by the industry in addition to ranking among the worst
civilian nuclear accidents. The Tokaimura reprocessing plant fire in 1999 has 2 worker deaths, one more exposed to radiation levels above legal limits and over 660 others received detectable radiation doses but below permissible levels. The
Mihama Nuclear Power PlantThe is operated by The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc. and is in the town of Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, about 320 km west of Tokyo. It is on a site that is 520,000 m2 of which 60% is green space.-Reactors on Site:-Events:...
experienced a steam explosion in one of the turbine buildings in 2004 where 4 workers were killed and seven others injured.
2011 accidents
There have been many nuclear shutdowns, failures, and partial
meltdownsNuclear meltdown is an informal term for a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...
which were triggered by the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiThe 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
.
| Plant description |
Accident descriptions |
| Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant |
- Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...
- Timeline of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
|
| Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant The , or Fukushima Dai-ni , is a nuclear power plant located on a site in the town of Naraha and Tomioka in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan...
|
Fukushima II nuclear accidents |
| Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant The is a nuclear power plant located on a 1,730,000 m2 site in Onagawa in the Oshika District and Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It is managed by the Tohoku Electric Power Company...
|
Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant incidents |
| Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant The was Japan's first nuclear power plant. It was built in the early 1960s to the British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. A second nuclear plant, built at the site in the 1970s, was the first in Japan to produce over 1000 MW of electricity, and...
|
Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant incidents |
| Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant The is a nuclear reprocessing plant with an annual capacity of 800 tons of uranium or 8 tons of plutonium, owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited located in the village of Rokkasho in northeast Aomori Prefecture, Japan approximately 17 miles north of the US Air Force's Misawa Air Base...
|
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant incidents |
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
According to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, "by April 27 approximately 55 percent of the fuel in reactor unit 1 had melted, along with 35 percent of the fuel in unit 2, and 30 percent of the fuel in unit 3; and overheated spent fuels in the storage pools of units 3 and 4 probably were also damaged". The accident has surpassed the 1979
Three Mile Island accidentThe Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
in seriousness, and is comparable to the 1986
Chernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
.
The Economist reports that the Fukushima disaster is "a bit like three Three Mile Islands in a row, with added damage in the spent-fuel stores", and that there will be ongoing impacts:
Years of clean-up will drag into decades. A permanent exclusion zone could end up stretching beyond the plant’s perimeter. Seriously exposed workers may be at increased risk of cancers for the rest of their lives...
On March 24, 2011, Japanese officials announced that "radioactive iodine-131 exceeding safety limits for infants had been detected at 18 water-purification plants in Tokyo and five other prefectures". Officials said also that the fallout from the Dai-ichi plant is "hindering search efforts for victims from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami".
Problems in stabilizing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have hardened attitudes to
nuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. As of June 2011, "more than 80 percent of Japanese now say they are
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
and distrust government information on
radiationIn physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
". The ongoing Fukushima crisis may spell the end of nuclear power in Japan, as "citizen opposition grows and local authorities refuse permission to restart reactors that have undergone safety checks". Local authorities are skeptical that sufficient safety measures have been taken and are reticent to give their permission – now required by law – to bring suspended nuclear reactors back online.
Other accidents
Other accidents of note include:
- 1981: almost 300 workers were exposed to excessive levels of radiation after a fuel rod ruptured during repairs at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant
The is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. It is operated by the Japan Atomic Power Company. The total site area amounts to 5.12 km2 with 4.80 km2, or 94% of it, being green area that the company is working to preserve.The Tsuruga site is a dual site with the...
.
- December 1995: the fast breeder Monju Nuclear Power Plant sodium leak. State-run operator Donen was found to have concealed videotape footage that showed extensive damage to the reactor.
- March 1997: the Tokaimura nuclear reprocessing plant fire and explosion, northeast of Tokyo. 37 workers were exposed to low doses of radiation. Donen later acknowledged it had initially suppressed information about the fire.
- 1999: a fuel loading system malfunctioned at a nuclear plant in the Fukui Prefecture and set off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction and explosion.
- September 1999: the criticality accident at the Tokai fuel fabrication facility
The Tokaimura nuclear accident , which occurred on 30 September 1999, resulted in two deaths. At that time, it was Japan's worst civilian nuclear radiation accident. The criticality accident occurred in a uranium reprocessing facility operated by JCO , a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co...
. Hundreds of people were exposed to radiation, three workers received doses above legal limits of whom two later died.
- 2000: Three Tokyo Electric Power Co. executives were forced to quit after the company in 1989 ordered an employee to edit out footage showing cracks in nuclear plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators.
- August 2002: a widespread falsification scandal starting in that led to the shut down of all Tokyo Electric Power Company’s 17 nuclear reactors; Tokyo Electric's officials had falsified inspection records and attempted to hide cracks in reactor vessel shrouds
A core shroud is a stainless steel cylinder surrounding a nuclear reactor core whose function is to direct the cooling water flow....
in 13 of its 17 units.
- 2002: Two workers were exposed to a small amount of radiation and suffered minor burns during a fire at Onagawa Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan.
- 9 August 2004: four workers were killed after a steam explosion at the Mihama
The is operated by The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc. and is in the town of Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, about 320 km west of Tokyo. It is on a site that is 520,000 m2 of which 60% is green space.-Reactors on Site:-Events:...
-3 station; the subsequent investigation revealed a serious lack in systematic inspection in Japanese nuclear plants, which led to a massive inspection program.
- 2006: A small amount of radioactive steam was released at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and it escaped the compound.
- 16 July 2007: a severe earthquake (measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale) hit the region where Tokyo Electric's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
The is a large, modern nuclear power plant on a 4.2-square-kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water...
is located and radioactive water spilled into the Sea of Japan; as of March 2009, all of the reactors remain shut down for damage verification and repairs; the plant with seven units was the largest single nuclear power station in the world.
Nuclear organizations in Japan
- Nuclear Safety Commission
Japan's is a commission established within the Cabinet of Japan as an independent agency to play the main role in nuclear safety administration. Commissioners are appointed by the Prime Minister of Japan on Diet approval...
原子力安全委員会 - The Japanese regulatory body for the nuclear industry.
- Japanese Atomic Energy Commission
The was established in 1956 and serves as the regulatory body for nuclear power in Japan. The Atomic Energy Basic Law contained a provision for its creation, and shortly after the law was enacted, the organization started activities, which are stated to be: assure that research and use of nuclear...
(AEC) 原子力委員会 - Now operating as a commission of inquiry to the Japanese cabinet, this organization coordinates the entire nation's plans in the area of nuclear energy.
- Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
The is a Japanese nuclear regulatory and oversight branch of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It was created in 2001 during the 2001 Central Government Reform. It has a main office in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo that works with the...
(NISA) 原子力安全・保安院 - The NISA performs regulatory activities and was formed January 6, 2001, after a reorganization of governmental agencies.
Research organizations
These organizations are government funded research organizations, though many of them have special status to give them power of administration separate from the Japanese government. Their origins date back to the
Atomic Energy Basic LawThe Atomic Energy Basic Law is a Japanese law passed December 19, 1955. Law number 186. It outlined the basics for the use of nuclear power in Japan.-Article 1 :...
, but they have been reorganized several times since their inception.
- Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute
The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute is a former semi-governmental organization that existed for the purpose of further nuclear power in Japan. It was created June 1956 by the Atomic Energy Basic Law...
(JAERI) - 日本原子力研究所
-
- The original nuclear energy research organization established by the Japanese government under cooperation with U.S. partners.
- Atomic Fuel Corporation - 原子燃料公社
- This organization was formed along with JAERI under the Atomic Energy Basic Law and was later reorganized to be PNC.
- Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation
The or for short, was a Japanese nuclear energy research organization established October 2, 1967 with the Atomic Fuel Corporation as its parent organization and disbanded 1998 to be restructured as Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. The organization specialized in special Breeder...
(PNC) - 動力炉・核燃料開発事業団
- This organization succeeded the AFC in 1967 in order to perform more direct construction of experimental nuclear plants, and was renamed JNC in 1998.
- Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute
The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute was formed in October 1998 to develop advanced nuclear energy technology to complete the nuclear fuel cycle, particularly fast breeder reactors, advanced reprocessing, plutonium fuel fabrication and high-level radioactive waste management. It succeeded...
(JNC) - 核燃料サイクル開発機構 (semi-governmental agency)
- Was formed in 1998 as the direct successor to the PNC. This organization operated Lojo and Monju experimental and demonstration reactors.
- Japan Atomic Energy Agency
The was formed October 1, 2005 by a merger of two previous semi-governmental organizations. While it inherited the activities of both PNC and JAERI, it also inherited the nickname of JAERI, "Genken" 原研, an abbreviated word for "nuclear research"....
(JAEA) - 日本原子力研究開発機構
- This is the modern, currently operating primary nuclear research organization in Japan. It was formed by a merger of JAERI and JNC in 2005.
Electric utilities running nuclear plants
Japan is divided into a number of regions that each get electric service from their respective regional provider, all utilities hold a monopoly and are strictly regulated by the Japanese government. For more background information see Energy in Japan. All regional utilities in Japan currently operate nuclear plants with the exception of the
Okinawa Electric Power Company, OEPC or for short, is an electric utility with its exclusive operational area of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the smallest by electricity sales among Japan’s ten regional power utilities, indeed, its electricity sales is approximately 1⁄40 of that of The Tokyo Electric Power Company, though...
. They are also all members of the
Federation of Electric Power CompaniesThe , or FEPC for short, is an industry organization of electric utilities in Japan. Its objective is to harmonize the plans for electric development in Japan...
(FEPCO) industry organization. The companies are listed below.
- Regional electric providers
- Hokkaidō Electric Power Company
The , or for short, is the monopoly electric company of Hokkaidō, Japan. It is also known as Hokuden, Dōden, and HEPCO. The company is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange , Osaka Securities Exchange , and Sapporo Securities Exchange....
(HEPCO) - 北海道電力
- Tōhoku Electric Power Company
is electric utility, servicing 7.6 million individual & corporate customers in 6 prefectures in Tōhoku region plus Niigata Prefecture. It provides electricity at 100 V, 50 Hz, though some area use 60 Hz....
(Tōhoku Electric) - 東北電力
- The Tokyo Electric Power Company
, also known as or TEPCO, is an electric utility servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo...
(TEPCO) - 東京電力
- Chūbu Electric Power Company
, abbreviated as Chuden in Japanese, is the electric provider for the middle Chūbu region of the Honshū island of Japan. It provides electricity at 60 Hz, though an area of Nagano Prefecture uses 50 Hz. Chubu Electric Power ranks third among Japan’s largest electric utilities in terms of power...
(CHUDEN) - 中部電力
- Hokuriku Electric Power Company
The Hokuriku Electric Power Company supplies power by a regulated monopoly to the Toyama Prefecture, Ishikawa Prefecture, the northern part of Fukui Prefecture, and northwestern parts of Gifu Prefecture...
(RIKUDEN) - 北陸電力
- Kansai Electric Power Company
, also known as , is an electric utility with its operational area of Kansai region, Japan . The company is regarded as one of the leading companies in Kansai, as well as a leader of the Japanese electric power industry....
(KEPCO) - 関西電力
- Chūgoku Electric Power Company
is an electric utility with its exclusive operational area of Chūgoku region of Japan. It is the sixth largest by electricity sales among Japan’s ten regional power utilities...
(Energia) - 中国電力
- Shikoku Electric Power Company
The is the electric provider for the 4 prefectures of the Shikoku island in Japan with few exceptions. Their image character is .On April 12, 1991 the company instituted Akari-chan as their image character and at the same time introduced the romanized nickname of Yonden .The company is also an...
(YONDEN) - 四国電力
- Kyūshū Electric Power Company
The provides power to 7 prefectures , and recently, to some parts of Hiroshima Prefecture. The shortened name of may sometimes be used. As of 2006, the image character was Chisato Moritaka...
(Kyūshū Electric) - 九州電力
- Other companies with a stake in nuclear power
- Japan Atomic Energy Agency
The was formed October 1, 2005 by a merger of two previous semi-governmental organizations. While it inherited the activities of both PNC and JAERI, it also inherited the nickname of JAERI, "Genken" 原研, an abbreviated word for "nuclear research"....
(JAEA) - 日本原子力研究開発機構
- Japan Atomic Power Company
The is a company initially formed to jump start the commercial use of nuclear power in Japan, and currently operates two different sites. According to the official web site, JAPC is "the only power company in Japan solely engaged in nuclear energy"....
(JPAC) - 日本原子力発電
-
- JAPC was created by special provisions from the Japanese government to be the first company in Japan to run a nuclear plant. Today it still operates two separate sites.
- Electric Power Development Company
The , operating under the brand name J-POWER, formerly , is the largest electric utility in Japan. It mainly produces Electricity from Coal and Hydroelectric Power Stations. It also has a few wind farms and is currently building a nuclear plant in Ohma, Aomori prefecture, that is scheduled to...
(EDPC, J-POWER) - 電源開発
- This company was created by a special law after the end of World War 2, it operates a number of coal fired, hydroelectric, and wind power plants, the Ohma nuclear plant that is under construction will mark its entrance to the industry upon completion.
Nuclear vendors and fuel cycle companies
Nuclear vendors provide fuel in its fabricated form, ready to be loaded in the reactor, nuclear services, and/or manage construction of new nuclear plants. The following is an incomplete list of companies based in Japan that provide such services. The companies listed here provide fuel or services for commercial light water plants, and in addition to this, JAEA has a small
MOX fuelMixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material. MOX fuel contains plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium fuel used in the...
fabrication plant.
- Nuclear Fuel Industries (NFI) - 原子燃料工業
-
- NFI operates nuclear fuel fabrication plants in both Kumatori, Osaka
is a town located in Sen'nan District, Osaka, Japan.As of 2009, the town has an estimated population of 45,090 and a density of 2,620 persons per km². The total area is 17.23 km². Kumatori is home to Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences ....
and in Tōkai, Ibarakiis a village located in Naka District, Ibaraki, Japan. It is approximately 120 km north of Tokyo, Japan on the Pacific coast.As of 1 January 2005, the village has an estimated population of 35,467 and a population density of 946.29 persons per km²...
, fabricating 284 and 200 (respectively) metric tons Uranium per year. The Tōkai site produces BWRThe boiling water reactor is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor , also a type of light water nuclear reactor...
, HTR, and ATR fuel while the Kumatori site produces only PWRPressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
fuel.
- Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited
Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is a nuclear energy company based in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, Japan involved in the production of nuclear fuel, as well as the reprocessing, storage and disposal of nuclear waste...
(JNFL, JNF) - 日本原燃
- The shareholders of JNFL are the Japanese utilities. JNFL plans to open a full scale enrichment facility in Rokkasho, Aomori
is a village located in the Kamikita District of northeastern Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the village had an estimated population of 10,890 and a density of 43 persons per km². Its total area was 253.01 km².-Geography:...
with a capacity of 1.5 million SWU/yr along with a MOX fuel fabrication facility. JNFL has also operated a nuclear fuel fabrication facility called Kurihama Nuclear Fuel Plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawais a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 419,067 and a population density of 4,160 people per km². It covered an area of 100.62 km²...
as GNF, producing BWR fuel.
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
/ AtmeaAtmea is a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Areva that will develop, market, license and sell a new generation III pressurized water reactor. A memorandum of understanding between the two companies effectively creating the entity was signed October 19, 2006 and the name of the joint venture...
- 三菱重工業 原子力事業本部
- MHI operates a fuel manufacturing plant in Tōkai, Ibaraki
is a village located in Naka District, Ibaraki, Japan. It is approximately 120 km north of Tokyo, Japan on the Pacific coast.As of 1 January 2005, the village has an estimated population of 35,467 and a population density of 946.29 persons per km²...
, and contributes many heavy industry components to construction of new nuclear plants, and has recently designed its own APWRWestinghouse Electric Company's AP1000 reactor design is the first Generation III+ reactor to receive final design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ....
plant type, fuel fabrication has been completely PWRPressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
fuel, though MHI sells components to BWRs as well. It was selected by the Japanese government to develop fast breeder reactor technology and formed Mitsubishi FBR SystemsMitsubishi FBR Systems, Inc. is a company formed on July 1, 2007 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop Fast breeder reactor technology. The establishment of the company was based on the April 2007 decision by the Japanese government to select Mitsubishi as the core company for FBR development...
. MHI has also announced an alliance with ArevaAREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
to form a new company called Atmea.
- Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF)
- GNF was formed as a joint venture with General Electric Nuclear Energy (GENE), Hitachi
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
, and Toshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
on January 1, 2000. GENE has since strengthened its relationship with Hitachi, forming a global nuclear alliance:
- GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a provider of advanced reactors and nuclear services. It is located in Wilmington, N.C.. Established in June 2007, GEH is a global nuclear alliance created by General Electric and Hitachi...
(GEH) - 日立GEニュークリア・エナジー
- This company was formed July 1, 2007. Its next generation reactor, the ESBWR
The type of nuclear reactor formally known as the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor is a passively safe generation III+ reactor derived from the predecessor Simplified Boiling Water Reactor and the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor...
has made significant progress with US regulators, and as of July 2007, has been submitted to English regulators as well for the generic design assessment (GDA) process.
- Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
- 東芝 電力システム社 原子力事業部
- Toshiba has maintained a large nuclear business focused mostly on Boiling Water Reactors. With the purchase of the American Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
by 5.4 Billion USD in 2006, which is focused mainly on Pressurized Water ReactorPressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
technology, it increased the size of its nuclear business about two fold. Toshiba has plans to continue significant expansion in the next decade.
Academic/Professional Organizations
- Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) 日本原子力産業協会 is a non-profit organization, established in 1956 to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy.
- The Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) 日本原子力学会 is a major academic organization in Japan focusing on all forms of nuclear power. The Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology is the academic journal run by the AESJ. It publishes English and Japanese articles, though most submissions are from Japanese research institutes, universities, and companies.
- Japan Nuclear Technology Institute (JANTI) 日本原子力技術協会 was established to by the nuclear power industry to support and lead that industry.
- Japan Electric Association
The is a membership organisation for the electricity sector in Japan and, although it has roots dating back to 1892, was founded in October 1921...
(JEA) 日本電気協会 develops and publishes codes and guides for the Japanese nuclear power industry and is active in promoting nuclear power.
Other proprietary organizations
-
- Established in 1978 as by Sumimoto Metal Mining Co. this company did work with Uranium conversion and set up factories at the Tokai-mura site. Later, it was held solely responsible for the Tokaimura nuclear accident
The Tokaimura nuclear accident , which occurred on 30 September 1999, resulted in two deaths. At that time, it was Japan's worst civilian nuclear radiation accident. The criticality accident occurred in a uranium reprocessing facility operated by JCO , a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co...
Anti-nuclear activities
A 2005 poll conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency found "that 82 percent of Japanese favored building more plants or maintaining existing ones". However, post-Fukushima polls suggest that somewhere "between 41 and 54 percent of Japanese support scrapping, or reducing the numbers of, nuclear power plants".
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
The Citizens' Nuclear Information Center is an
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
public interest organization dedicated to securing a nuclear-free world. It was established in Tokyo in 1975 to collect and analyze information related to nuclear power, including safety, economic, and proliferation issues. Data compiled by the CNIC is presented to the media, citizens' groups and policy makers. The CNIC is supported by membership fees, donations, and sales of publications, and is independent from government and industry.
In 1995, Jinzaburo Takagi, the late former director of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, "warned about the dangers posed by the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Station and other old atomic plants", and also "cautioned the government and utilities about their policy of not assessing the safety risks for nuclear power stations beyond their assumed scenarios".
Stop Rokkasho
Stop RokkashoStop Rokkasho is a project run by the Japanese NGO Boomerang Net and headed up by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. In order to bring attention to the nuclear reprocessing plant in Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, they get artists to contribute songs and other art to the cause. The music and other media are...
is a group that campaigns against the
Rokkasho Reprocessing PlantThe is a nuclear reprocessing plant with an annual capacity of 800 tons of uranium or 8 tons of plutonium, owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited located in the village of Rokkasho in northeast Aomori Prefecture, Japan approximately 17 miles north of the US Air Force's Misawa Air Base...
. In 2008, members of hundreds of opposition groups demonstrated in central Tokyo to protest the building of the Rokkasho Plant, designed to allow commercial reprocessing of reactor waste to produce plutonium.
Kaminoseki
The proposed Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant is to be built on landfill in a national park in Japan's well-known and picturesque Seto Inland Sea. For three decades, local residents, fishermen, and environmental activists have opposed the plant. The Inland Sea has been the site of intense seismic activity, yet the utility involved continues with its plans. In January 2011, five Japanese young people held a hunger strike for more than a week, outside the Prefectural Government offices in Yamaguchi City, to protest site preparation for the planned Kaminoseki plant.
Hamaoka
The possibility of a magnitude 8-plus earthquake in the Tokai region near the Hamaoka plant was "brought to the public's attention by geologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko in the 1970s". On 10 April 2011 protesters called for the Hamaoka nuclear-power plant to be shut down. On 6 May 2011, Prime Minister
Naoto Kanis a Japanese politician, and former Prime Minister of Japan. In June 2010, then-Finance Minister Kan was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and designated Prime Minister by the Diet to succeed Yukio Hatoyama. On 26 August 2011, Kan announced his resignation...
ordered the
Hamaoka Nuclear Power PlantThe is a nuclear power plant located in Omaezaki city, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Japan's east coast, 200 km south-west of Tokyo. It is managed by the Chubu Electric Power Company. There are five units contained at a single site with a net area of 1.6 km2 . A sixth unit began construction...
be shut down as an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher is likely to hit the area within the next 30 years. Kan wanted to avoid a possible repeat of the Fukushima disaster. On 9 May 2011, Chubu Electric decided to comply with the government request. Kan later called for a new energy policy with less reliance on nuclear power. In July 2011, a mayor in Shizuoka Prefecture and a group of residents filed a lawsuit seeking the decommissioning of the reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant permanently.
Iwaishima
In 1982,
Chugoku Electric Power Companyis an electric utility with its exclusive operational area of Chūgoku region of Japan. It is the sixth largest by electricity sales among Japan’s ten regional power utilities...
proposed building a
nuclear power plantA nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
near Iwaishima, but many residents opposed the idea, and the island’s fishing cooperative voted overwhelmingly against the plans. In January 1983, almost 400 islanders staged a protest march, which was the first of more than 1,000 protests the islanders carried out. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 there has been wider opposition to construction plans for the plant.
The Hidankyo
In July 2011, the Hidankyo, the group representing the 10,000 or so survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan, called for the first time for the elimination of civilian nuclear power. In its action plan for 2012, the group appealed for "halting construction of new nuclear plants and the gradual phasing out of Japan’s 54 current reactors as energy alternatives are found".
Mizuho Fukushima
Mizuho Fukushimais a Japanese politician. She has been a member of the House of Councillors since 1998, was re-elected in 2004 and 2010,and is the current chair of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, a position she has held since 2003....
is the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, which has an
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
platform, and she has been referred to as a prominent anti-nuclear activist. For three decades, she was at the forefront of an often futile fight against the utilities that operated Japan's nuclear reactors, the corporations that built them and the bureaucrats who enabled them. That situation changed with the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disasterThe is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...
in March 2011.
Koide Hiroaki
Koide Hiroaki began his career as a nuclear engineer forty years ago, when he believed that nuclear power was an important resource for the future. Quickly, however, he "recognized the flaws in Japan’s nuclear power program and emerged as among the best informed of Japan’s nuclear power critics". His most recent book,
Genpatsu no uso (The Lie of Nuclear Power) became a bestseller in Japan.
Kenzaburo Oe
Nobel laureate
Kenzaburo Oeis a Japanese author and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His works, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues including nuclear weapons, social non-conformism and existentialism.Ōe was awarded...
has been involved with pacifist and
anti-nuclearThe anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
campaigns and written books about the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiDuring the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. In September 2011, he urged Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Nodais the current Prime Minister of Japan, a member of the Democratic Party of Japan , and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet...
to “halt plans to restart nuclear power plants and instead abandon nuclear energy”.
Haruki Murakami
Award-winning novelist
Haruki Murakamiis a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
has said that the Fukushima accident was the second major nuclear disaster that the Japanese people have experienced—however, this time it was not a bomb being dropped, but a mistake committed by our very own hands. According to Murakami, the Japanese people should have rejected nuclear power after having "learned through the sacrifice of the
hibakushaThe surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
just how badly radiation leaves scars on the world and human wellbeing".
Tetsunari Iida
Tetsunari IidaTetsunari Iida is director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies in Japan. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, he is calling for a decrease in Japan's reliance on nuclear power and an increase in renewable energy use....
is director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies in Japan. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, he is calling for a decrease in Japan's reliance on nuclear power and an increase in
renewable energy useRenewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat...
.
Setsuko Thurlow
Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, spoke about the Fukushima nuclear disaster and questioned the world's reliance on nuclear energy at a meeting of the U.N. committee on disarmament and security in New York in 2011. Thurlow, who has become a strong advocate of nuclear non-proliferation, spoke at the meeting alongside Kazu Sueishi, another Hiroshima A-bomb
hibakushaThe surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
.
Women from Fukushima Against Nukes
The movement of “Women from Fukushima Against Nukes” (Genptasu iranai Fukushima kara no onnatachi) is well positioned to express views on nuclear power issues.
Article 9 Association
The founders of the Article 9 group stressed the need to remove nuclear power from the nation's energy policy in light of
Article 9 of the Japanese ConstitutionArticle 9 of the Japanese Constitution is a clause in the National Constitution of Japan that prohibits an act of war by the state. The Constitution came into effect on May 3, 1947, immediately following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces war as a sovereign right and bans...
and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Article 9 stipulates that Japan forever renounces war, stating, "Land, sea and air forces as well as other war potential will never be maintained."
Kenzaburo Oeis a Japanese author and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His works, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues including nuclear weapons, social non-conformism and existentialism.Ōe was awarded...
, one of the nine founders of the Article 9 Association, spoke at the group's national rally in Tokyo in November 2011, which drew about 700 like-minded people.
Protests
In mid-April 2011, 17,000 people protested at two demonstrations in Tokyo against nuclear power. One protester, Yohei Nakamura, said nuclear power is a serious problem and that anti-nuclear demonstrations were undercovered in the Japanese press because of the influence of the Tokyo Electric Power Co."
Three months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, thousands of anti-nuclear protesters marched in Japan. Company workers, students, and parents with children rallied across Japan, "venting their anger at the government's handling of the crisis, carrying flags bearing the words 'No Nukes!' and 'No More Fukushima'."
In August 2011, about 2,500 people including farmers and fishermen marched in Tokyo. They are suffering heavy losses following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and called for prompt compensation from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government.
In September 2011, anti-nuclear protesters, marching to the beat of drums, “took to the streets of Tokyo and other cities to mark six months since the March earthquake and tsunami and vent their anger at the government's handling of the nuclear crisis set off by meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant”. Protesters called for a complete shutdown of Japanese nuclear power plants and demanded a shift in government policy toward alternative sources of energy. Among the protestors were four young men who started a 10-day hunger strike to bring about change in Japan's nuclear policy.
Sixty thousand people marched in central Tokyo on 19 September 2011, chanting "Sayonara nuclear power" and waving banners, to call on Japan's government to abandon atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Author
Kenzaburo Oeis a Japanese author and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His works, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues including nuclear weapons, social non-conformism and existentialism.Ōe was awarded...
and musician
Ryuichi SakamotoAfter working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
were among the event's supporters. These were the largest set of demonstrations in Japan since the US-Japan security treaty protests of the 1960s and 1970s.
Female protest leaders helped to maintain the momentum of the September 19 protest in Tokyo. Hundreds of women, many of them from Fukushima, organized a sit-in protest at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry from October 30-November 5. Women’s groups have been particularly scathing and effective in condemning the government’s casualization of radiation exposure – "the increase of the permissible exposure rate from 1 to 20 mSv, its inadequate attention to “hotspots” outside of the official evacuation areas, its calculation only of external radiation while ignoring internal radiation, and its spotty food supply oversight".
More than 1,000 people formed a candle-lit human chain around Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry on the evening November 11, 2011, the eight-month anniversary of the beginning of the Fukushima crisis. On November 18 at the site of another nuclear power plant on the southern island of Kyushu, some 15,000 people demonstrated to call on the government to scrap all of the nation's reactors. And, in other parts of the country, people have also been protesting.
See also
- Energy in Japan
- Horonobe, Hokkaidō
is a town located in Teshio District, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan. There is a JR train station, Horonobe Station which connects Horonobe-town with other cities in Hokkaido....
- Japan's non-nuclear policy
Japan exhibits a firm non-nuclear weapons policy, most popularly articulated as the Three Non-Nuclear Principles of non-possession, non-production, and non-introduction of nuclear weapons imposed by the United States after Japan's defeat in World War 2....
- Japanese nuclear weapons program
- Japanese nuclear incidents
This is a list of Japanese atomic, nuclear and radiological accidents, incidents and disasters.-List:-See also:* Nuclear power in Japan* List of civilian nuclear accidents* List of civilian nuclear incidents* List of civilian radiation accidents...
- Nuclear energy policy
Nuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, generating electricity by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel...
- Three Non-Nuclear Principles
Japan's are a parliamentary resolution that have guided Japanese nuclear policy since their inception in the late 1960s, and reflect general public sentiment and national policy since the end of World War II. The tenets state that Japan shall neither possess nor manufacture nuclear weapons, nor...
- United States-Japan Joint Nuclear Energy Action Plan
The United States-Japan Joint Nuclear Energy Action Plan is a bilateral agreement aimed at putting in place a framework for the joint research and development of nuclear energy technology. The agreement was signed on April 18, 2007...
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