Published on Oct. 19, 2017: The Denki Shimbun (The Electric Daily News)
Shojiro Matsuura
President & CEO

At the start of the previous extraordinary session of the Diet, the Prime Minister used his exclusive prerogative to dissolve the House of Representatives, and a general election was announced on October 10. The dissolution of the House led to major changes in Japan's political situation. There are now three major political groups vying for power, the conservative ruling group, a anti-government conservative opposition group, and the left-wing liberal opposition. The most important point of debate in the election is whether the current administration will continue or be replaced. Both the anti-government conservative party and the left-wing liberal party are emphasizing a policy of “nuclear power zero”.

The issue of nuclear power is in its essence an energy issue. It is a matter of how electrical energy can be secured and supplied. Nuclear power is a practical means of scientifically and technologically securing integral part of the answer to the following question: "What kind of energy resource balance does Japan need to build in order to safely secure a large amount of high-quality energy over the long term while maintaining a high self-sufficiency ratio?"

The “nuclear power zero” policy represents a decision by the nation state to abandon the possibilities of science and technology, the most representative fruit of modern civilization. Some political parties go as far as saying that this policy should be written into the articles of Japan's constitution. I doubt whether such a political decision is one that has been made with thorough consideration for the current and future state of our nation.

My doubts are grounded in the fact that these parties are advocating “nuclear power zero” in their election manifestoes. In elections, the key to success is the ability to garner votes. Elections may be won by those who find words that reach the hearts of voters, particularly when the other side cannot say those words and the words in question can be picked up and thrown at the opposition. After the accident in Fukushima, the ruling party cannot advocate for the promotion of nuclear power during election time even if it understands the possibilities of nuclear power. They keep away from nuclear power issues. The other parties are targeting this situation by throwing down a challenge with the words “nuclear power zero”. It is tricky rhetoric.

However, it has already been pointed out that demand for electrical energy in the near future is expected to push the ratio of consumption of electrical energy as a proportion of primary energy usage up from the current ratio of around 30% to more than 70% (see the article by Youji Uchiyama in this column, dated September 8).

If the supply of renewable energy is used to meet demand in such situations, then the development of batteries capable of high-density storage will be required on an enormous scale. We would be talking about building-sized batteries, as big as oil and gas storage tanks. However, since batteries store energy simply through reactions on a chemical energy level, it may be scientifically impossible to produce high-density storage batteries at such completely different orders of magnitude. If we consider the incidents involving lithium-ion batteries, the current most efficient form of high-density energy storage, then it is clearly uncertain whether the safety of huge battery structures could ever be guaranteed. Are those advocating the “nuclear power policy” really doing so on the basis of an appraisal of this situation?

Nuclear power can already deal with the above circumstances through existing technology. This assertion is grounded in the characteristics of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is stored as the energy binding together the nuclei of the atoms of nuclear fuel elements such as uranium and plutonium and that energy is released through nuclear fission. The energy released by a nuclear reaction is roughly one million times greater than that released by atomic and molecular reactions. This is the fundamental reason why human beings are able to receive benefits from nuclear reactions. Nuclear power gives us the ability to convert that process into electrical energy and control its output. If we use nuclear fuels, then even if the usage of electricity increases to many multiples of current usage, the storage of many years worth of electricity presents no technical problems. Furthermore, there are approximately 4.5 billion tons of uranium dissolved in the world's seawater, and the technology for extracting this uranium has already been developed through verification tests in the seas off Japan.

Alongside solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal power, nuclear energy is an energy source that can be freely extracted without limits within Japan's territory. It is an extreme deception to argue that we can create hope for the future of our country while adopting policies that constitute the abolition of achievements that have already been developed as a product of our modern civilization.

Rather, Japanese statesmen need to free the citizens from the radiation- and radioactivity-related trauma that has taken root as a result of the atomic bombings, hydrogen bomb testing and Fukushima nuclear accident, to understand, with due respect and reverence, the science and technology of nuclear power, to implement contemporary education starting at the primary level building on that understanding, and to harness this product of our modern civilization as a leading civilized nation, advancing policies that reduce poverty around the globe and promote the maintenance of peace.

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