Published on April 26, 2019: The Denki Shimbun (The Electric Daily News)
Shojiro Matsuura
Advisor

On April 9 and 10, the 52nd JAIF Annual Conference was held, the theme of which was “Tapping the Full Potential of Nuclear Energy.” Over the course of the special presentations, keynote addresses as well as related panel discussions, conference participants shared their views about current domestic and international circumstances.

The focus of the conference programs not only emphasized energy aspects associated with the use of nuclear power, but also non-energy facets, such as industrial technologies, healthcare, and agriculture, as well as an even broader perspective encompassing historical changes in people’s sentiment as weapons have developed.

Of these sessions, the special presentation given by Professor Kazuto Hongo of the Historiographical Institute at The University of Tokyo was particularly impressive. His lecture showed how the principal weapons employed during combat over the span of time from the late Heian period through the end of the Warring States period transitioned from bow and arrow to long swords, to lances and then to guns. He described how the massive use of firearms provided a foundation for Oda Nobunaga to unify the country. Nobunaga controlled Sakai which was Japan’s trading port, thereby monopolizing saltpeter, one of the principal ingredients in gunpowder and a chemical which Japan did not have. This exclusive control gave his armies overwhelming firepower and provided him with the strength to unify Japan.

This view offers adequate reasoning for understanding why common people during the Edo period offered relatively little resistance in complying with the polices promoted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi of confiscating their swords, which he ordered in 1588, and Tokugawa Ieyasu of forbidding ordinary people from owning weapons. These people had witnessed firsthand the nightmare that powerful weapons wrought during the Warring States period and likely longed for a safe life achievable through peace rather than armed resistance. Looking back over history, one finds many instances where war has resulted in leaps in technological progress. When technology has evolved, its use also has increased people’s happiness. Professor Hongo recognized that historical fact and closed his presentation with the message: “Isn’t Japan’s mission to use and spread nuclear power?”

Although many Japanese people experienced the devastating destruction by atomic bomb attacks in 1945, the use of this technology to produce nuclear energy was promoted after the war on the precondition that it be peaceful and safe. Still, in 2011, many residential areas were stricken by disaster when a massive tsunami struck the Fukushima nuclear power stations causing an accident that led to the release of radioactive materials, contaminating these areas. In spite of the benefits from nuclear power as an achievement of modern civilization, it is only natural that people have concerns about its peaceful use and that such sentiment has persisted.

That being said, the Fukushima accident involved hydrogen explosions that destroyed three reactor buildings. The reactors themselves did not explode sending nuclear fuel material high into the sky as happened at Chernobyl, and most of the radioactive materials released were the fission product Cesium 137. The total quantity of radioactivity released was roughly one-tenth that of the Chernobyl accident.

In addition, with regard to human exposure and accompanying radiation hazards, not one death has been attributed to acute radiation syndrome, and almost none of those exposed has developed latent radiation hazards (cancer), including people who have engaged in the accident cleanup and local residents. Even if there have been some incidences of latent disorders, international assessments have concluded that such cases are extremely rare. This is a scientific fact.

Nevertheless, reports put the number of deaths among forcefully-evacuated residents at more than 2,000, of which recuperating patients and elderly in nursing care account for a particularly high percentage. Although this unfortunate state of affairs is thought to have resulted from insufficient nuclear accident evacuation preparation and judgment errors made in the subsequent response, the principal cause was no doubt that people had not even acquired a simple basic knowledge about radioactive materials and radiation.

As was pointed out again and again at this conference, the safe use of nuclear power offers great potential. It is essential that we possess a sound knowledge of radiation protection and technology systems as part of our social structure so that we may realize this potential.

End