Winter 2002 No - cnfc.or.jp · er that ABMs deployed at several points ... ticipation in the...

ISSN 0919-9748

Winter 2002 No.36

Council for Nuclear Fuel Cycle

OpinionTime to Deliberate a ComprehensiveStrategy for Nuclear Issue- In the wake of U.S. withdrawal from the ABM

Treaty -

Series PlutoniumConstruction Program of the RokkashoMOX Fuel Fabrication Plant

NourriturePraise the Living with Nature

Winter 2002 No.36

Council for Nuclear Fuel Cycle

TBR Bldg. 303,2-10-2, Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku,

Tokyo 100-0014, JapanTEL : 81-3-3591-2081FAX : 81-3-3591-2088

E-Mail [email protected] Site http://www.cnfc.or.jp/

PublisherJun-ichi Nishizawa

Executive EditorShigeru Goto

Editorial OfficeCouncil for Nuclear Fuel Cycle

CNFC Members of the BoardChairmanNISHIZAWA, Jun-ichiPresident, Iwate Prefectural UniversityFormer President, Tohoku University

Acting ChairmanTSUSHIMA, YujiMember of the House of Representatives

DirectorsETO, AkinoriFormer Member of the House of Representatives

GOTO, ShigeruFormer Member of the House of RepresentativesPresident, Goto Institute for Global Energy

IMAI, RyukichiFormer Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary,Conference on Disarmament (Geneva)Professor, Kyorin University

MUKAIBO, TakashiFormer President, The University of Tokyo

OHATA, AkihiroMember of the House of Representatives

OSHIMA, TadamoriMember of the House of Representatives

TANABU, MasamiMember of the House of Councilors

WATANABE, ShuMember of the House of Representatives

YAMAMOTO, YujiMember of the House of Representatives

YOSHIDA, YukihisaFormer Member of the House of Councilors

Date of Issue : February 15, 2002

Printed by ASAHI BUSINESS CO., LTD.

• OpinionTime to Deliberate a Comprehensive Strategy for Nuclear Issue

- In the wake of U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty -

• InterviewA Town Where Young and Elderly Citizens Enjoy Living

Interview with Mayor Zentaro Aoyama of Kashima Town

• Nourriture-14Praise the Living with Nature

Yuji Tsushima

• Series Plutonium 20Construction Program of the Rokkasho MOX FuelFabrication Plant

Masashi SasakiMorihiro Yoneda

• Pluto 34A Section of Energy History --Part 2

"Arisawa, Asanuma and Others..."Shigeru Goto

1

2

8

11

18

Contents

Cover : A Street Corner in BrusselsThe operation of an experimental nuclear power plant (BR-3) of11MWe capacity was initiated in 1962 in Belgium. Since then,Belgium has been playing the role as a forerunner of nuclear powerin Europe. Currently, seven nuclear power plants have been sup-plying 56.8% of the total electricity generated in the country(achievement in 2000). However, unfortunately, the national policytoward nuclear power is being reviewed by an effect of the GreenParty's entry into the cabinet, like the most of other Europeancountries. It really seems that the political judgement by the coali-tion government tends to be too much swayed by the party inter-ests at hand, not based on the future energy policy of the country.

1Plutonium No.36 Winter 2002

The U.S. announced December 13 lastyear its withdrawal from the Treaty on theLimitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems.Quoted as saying, "It is now completely dif-ferent in situation from the time when wesigned the ABM Treaty," the BushAdministration issued a statement that "theABM Treaty hinders our government's abilityto develop ways to protect our people fromfuture terrorist or rogue state missile attacks."

It is understandable that the meaning of theABM Treaty signed in 1972 between the U.S.and the former Soviet Union has changed asthe time passes. But if the ABM Treaty nolonger plays any role, what strategic structurewill finally be developed? Some may consid-er that ABMs deployed at several pointscould shoot down attacking nuclear missiles,thereby making nuclear weapons meaning-less. On the other hand, there is also a dangerthat numbers of nuclear weapons may beincreased to oppose such a defense system,further intensifying a nuclear armament race.The principle of nuclear deterrence under theCold War structure will change, possiblydeveloping a philosophy indulged in nucleararms proliferation that it is necessary toincrease and also defend nuclear weapons.

To be sure, in case terrorists and roguestates possess nuclear weapons, it willbecome necessary to take some nationaldefense measure in preparation for any attackby them. It is doubtful indeed, however,whether or not it is effective in taking nationaldefense or, more widely, world peace meas-ures to treat these terrorism or rogue states inthe same context as the abandonment of com-mitments to nuclear arms-related controlbetween two nuclear superpowers.

We must make continual efforts towardultimate elimination of terrorism and democ-ratization of rogue states as well as their par-ticipation in the international community.

Nevertheless, international and domesticefforts not to deliver nuclear materials,nuclear weapon technologies, and the like toterrorists or rogue states should be placedbefore the "measures against the possibility ofsuch organizations using nuclear weaponry."In doing so, it is essential, I think, to giveurgent priority to negotiations for cooperationamong nuclear states.

The U.S. and Russia expressed at the sum-mit meeting held in last November theirintention to reduce strategic nuclear weaponsin next decade to one-third of the presentlevel, expecting to start its review in January.Currently possessed some 6,000 of suchweaponry are to be reduced to 1,700-2,200units by the U.S. and to 1,500-2,200 byRussia. This, however, goes by the realitythat the reduction of nuclear weapons cannotbe quickly materialized as previously seen indelayed negotiations for and ratification byCongress of the Strategic Arms ReductionTreaty (START). Even if this reduction wereto be formally agreed upon, a problem wouldremain of whether the reduction could actual-ly be implemented as promised consideringthe economic situation of Russia. Moreover,if strategic weapons are reduced in number,further upgraded weapons will not alwayshave mitigated the threat, making the simplereduction of no sense at all.

According to the Washington Post ofJanuary 8, the Bush Administration is likelyto propose to Congress its well-determinedresumption of underground nuclear tests with-in one or two years. The reason is of no dif-ference from that for its withdrawal from theABM Treaty. If the U.S. underground test isresumed, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) will naturally turn out adead letter. As a result, this only apparentlygives Russia, China, and France, and even

India as well as Pakistan a chance to acceler-ate their nuclear test and development on thispretext.

Will a trend to strengthen the defense sys-tem as one, reduce nuclear weapons as anoth-er, and upgrade such weapons as the othermeasure do for or against the world peace?No one knows it, at least, at present. Is it allright with the present situation where theglobal issue of nuclear weapons is alwaysaddressed first by, and, as a result, has beenleft up to the U.S. as the sole winner? Thisremains a concern all the better since the exis-tence of human beings as a whole dependsupon it.

Existing nuclear weapons-related treatiescomprise the START, ABM Treaty and otherbilateral treaties between the U.S. and Russiaboth as nuclear weapon powers, multilateralones including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) andCTBT, and regional ones such as Treaties forNuclear Weapon-Free Zones, all of which aredifferent treaties with different objectives.We would like to take the recent U.S. with-drawal from the ABM Treaty and resumptionof its underground test as an advantageousopportunity to review nuclear disarmament,non-nuclear proliferation, and other problemsworldwide in a total manner. For positiveconsideration to be kept on the globally com-prehensive security, not sticking to any con-ventional individual treaties, we earnestlyseek from each country its efforts to work outproposals and draw a conclusion suitable forthe international society in the 21st centurythrough the exchange as well as discussion ofviews among nuclear weapon states, non-nuclear weapon states and regions, and on theworldwide domain as well.

Executive Editor

Time to Deliberate a Comprehensive Strategyfor Nuclear Issue

- In the wake of U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty -

2 Plutonium No.36 Winter 2002

Interview

Host Town to the Summit of the Gods

- Could you start by introducingKashima?Mayor Aoyama: When I introduceKashima, first of all I always say thatit is an old town, full of history. A spe-cific example of this is Sata Shrinenear here. To put it simply, Octoberaccording to the old calendar is gener-ally called "the month without gods";however, in the Izumo region it iscalled "the month with gods". Duringthe month of October, myriads of godsfrom all over the country gather herefor the opening of what in today'sterms is a summit of the gods. SataShrine is said to be the venue of thissummit. These legends give an indica-

tion of the long and full history ofKashima.

Recently, when land was beingdeveloped to start welfare projects, awooden coffin, the oldest in Japan, wasexcavated. Again, this showsKashima's long history. It was a townabundant with food and water, andcultural artifacts appear wherever youdig. So, it is a town with a rich histo-ry. Second, as is common of placesthat have nuclear power stations,Kashima is blessed with mountains,the sea, rivers, and nature. Indeed,Kashima has been long famous for itsswimming beaches.

Another feature of Kashima is itsproximity to the prefectural capital,Matsue City. Being next to Matsue

means we benefit in terms of culture,education, medical care, welfare serv-ices, and employment. Furthermore,we use the public facilities in Matsuerather than duplicating the facilities.

We also have a strong primaryindustry, especially fishing industrybecause Kashima has an abundance ofnature. The market is depressed atthe moment, but at the peak, we had acatch of 70 thousand tons and sales of5 billion yen. This town has the thirdlargest fishing port in Shimane, andthis is one reason for Kashima's repu-tation as a fresh food supplier.

Finally, Kashima will be the onlytown in the Chugoku region with anuclear power plant. So, to describeour town simply, both ancient light,tomoshibi, and modern light, akari,shine together in harmony.

Unit 3: An Opportunity for RegionalDevelopment Plans Having Been Left Off

- Program of Shimane Unit 3 is nowunderway, but as a town what do youexpect from the construction of this reac-tor?Mayor Aoyama: Unit 1 reactor started

Interview with Mayor Zentaro Aoyama of Kashima Town

Kashima Town

SHIMANESHIMANE

A program is underway to build the Unit 3 reactor at Shimane Nuclear PowerStation of Chugoku Electric Power Company in Kashima, Shimane Prefecture. Aswas the case with the construction of the Unit 2, public opposition was intensive, andthose involved is the program faced many difficulties. We interviewed the mayor ofKashima, Mr. Zentaro Aoyama, about the construction program for the new Unit 3, onNovember 20, 2001. (Editor)

A Town Where Young and Elderly Citizens Enjoy Living


Interview

operating in March 1974 with an out-put of 460 MW. Unit 2 reactor inFebruary 1989 with an output of 820MW. Unit 1 reactor started to operatea year before the Subsidy System bythe Three Laws for Electric PowerResources Development was put inplace, which meant it was not eligiblefor subsidy. Indeed, at that time,social capital development was lackingoverall and because primary industrywas the main industry, not a lot ofplanning and development went in toUnit 1. It was a first for us and wehad unrealistic expectations. We suf-fered a hard time for negotiations withUnit 2 as consequences.

When the plans for Unit 2 came up,the world was protesting stronglyagainst environmental pollution andthe Narita Airport protests were attheir peak. Here, also, at the first pub-lic hearing, the population of Kashimaalmost doubled with the people com-ing for the hearing. At that time, wehad the town councilor elections.Candidates, during their campaigns,would openly say things like: "Thewarm waste water from the plant willburn you" and "Because the nuclearfuel pool is outdoors, if it rains, thepool will overflow and radioactivitywill spread out". Naturally, people inthe fishing industry were vehementlyagainst the nuclear plant. At thattime, I was the head of the union andabout 80% of union members wereagainst it and signed a petition. I wasin the situation of being ordered bymembers to join the protest move-ment; it was an extremely difficultperiod for nuclear power.

When nuclear power plant was dis-cussed at the local assembly, all thelocal people turned out to protest. Theassembly hall was surrounded and theriot police had to be called in to removeprotesters. It was that kind of time.However, in the end, the efforts ofthose involved paid off because in

1989, Unit 2 started commercial oper-ation and industrial development inthe region took off. Social investmentsuch as improvement in living stan-dard, education, and local industryhad been promoted, and the resultbrought Kashima to the top of the pre-fecture in terms of arrangements.Nevertheless, there are still works todo and so we are now addressing areasthat were lacking and including themin the plans for regional developmentat the time of Unit 3.

In terms of administration, we haveto follow procedure, and up until nowwe followed the Fourth General Plan.That ended at the end of 2000 andfrom this year, 2001, we started on anew 10-year general plan. Included inthis plan is the new assignment, high-ways, which we are busy with. Thereis a common view that highwaysshould be provided for by the prefec-ture, but that is inevitably slow. Wehave another highway runningthrough the town. It runs in front ofthis Town Office and 10,000 vehiclespass over it. Kashima sees an espe-cially large amount of traffic evenwithin Shimane Prefecture. We areputting a lot of work into developinghighways and welfare pro-grams.

Also, the population hereis gradually decreasing; theformer peak of 10,000 peoplehas dropped to 8,500. Ourpopulation has decreasedby 1,500 people in a littleover 30 years, so comparedto other municipalities it isnot such a big number.However, because it is soclose to Matsue City, manyyoung people decide to moveto Matsue producing a"straw phenomenon." Toovercome this, I thinkKashima Town must look atnot only improving highways

and welfare support, but also strate-gies to encourage permanent resi-dence, information communication,and consolidation of municipalities.

Underground Sewerage Facilities: Firstin Japan

Kashima has used the revenue fromhaving a nuclear power plant, espe-cially the construction of Unit 2 reac-tor, to develop its sewerage facilities.In less than ten years, this town hasexecuted 100% development. To thepoint where I can proudly callKashima "the town of the washlet (atoilet with washing function)." It isthe same anywhere, but no one wantssewerage facilities built near theirhouse. Kashima only has an area of30km2 and 65% of that is covered inmountains. This leaves a small areafor building houses. In particular, itwas difficult finding land for treat-ment facilities near the fishing port,which is a densely populated area. Inthe end, with the help of progressivenational research on sewerage, wewere able to dig a tunnel, and placethe treatment facilities in the tunnel.Called the Clean Capsule, it was thefirst of its kind in Japan and it solved


the problem. Because of the CleanCapsule, the sewerage facilities inKashima were completed in only 12years.

One reason our sewerage facilitieswere completed so quickly is that weundertook all four businesses together.Agricultural regions were taken careof by the Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries' AgriculturalCommunity Drainage Business, fish-ing regions by the Fishing IndustryCommunity Environment Business,densely populated regions by theMinistry of Construction's SpecialEnvironment Conservation PublicSewerage Business, and rural regionsby the Ministry of Health andWelfare's Coalition Septic TankSupport Business. This gave us ourquick result.

One more point, with the develop-ment of sewerage facilities, it is com-mon for local governments to dividethe cost of the project by the number ofhouseholds and make those who willbenefit pay the cost. However, inKashima, we did not do this. Afterlaying down the sewerage pipes, theystill have to be connected to householdplumbing. So we asked each house-hold to pay the cost of connection.However, if residents could not affordto pay, we did offer options, and thetown provided support on a percentageof the interest on the loan payments.Although Kashima's sewerage treat-ment facilities have been completed,the diffusion level is not 100% yet.

By the way, Hayama in KanagawaPrefecture was the second to introducethis tunnel system. The Emperor hasa residence there. Many highlyrespected and rich people live inHayama near seashore. As can beexpected, the residents wanted thefacilities, but no one wanted the facili-ties near their own house. The prob-lem was solved instantly by using thetunnel system.

- So Kashima has become the modelfor this system.Mayor Aoyama: Even though we are asmall, local government, we were ableto improve our sewerage system, andwe are proud to be able to share infor-mation on this project. In exchange,Hayama Town helped us with ourmarina project, which will be complet-ed April 1, 2002. Hayama was thefirst to build a marina. Our marinawill be the first in Shimane Prefecture.

- It is valuable to be able to exchangeinformation with other local governmentson capital preparation.Mayor Aoyama: This is a technicalexplanation but, when sewerage istreated, at the final stages chlorine isused to sterilize and disinfect. Ozone,however, increases the transparencyeven more. In our facilities, we steril-ize and disinfect with ozone with amind to reusing that water.Sometimes, the water famishes, butwe use it to water parks and publicgreen areas.

A Town for the Young to Settle In

Recently, Kashima constructed thebest gymnasium in ShimanePrefecture. It has a heated pool and isfully air-conditioned. A total of about10,000 people a year use the facility.About 60% of users come from outsideof Kashima, but that is not a problem.We welcome everyone to use it.

- So, Kashima is a town with a longhistory and by building modern facilitiesand making it a comfortable environ-ment to live in, you are harmonizing theold with the new, and at the same time,building a modern town with a future toattract the young. Is that correct?Mayor Aoyama: Yes. That is right.

- What do you think the young peopleof this town expect?Mayor Aoyama: As a strategy to encour-age people, especially the young, toreside permanently here, we areworking on projects on a social and

physical level. In terms of physicalenvironment, our projects are to buildhousing complexes, and offer cheaperresidential land. Normally, about 200residences would be built in a concen-trated area, but land is constricted inKashima, and rather than building inone area we decided it better todecentralize and limit each area to 20houses.

In terms of social environment, weaim to offer a town that is comfortableto live in for the young and good forraising children. We will halve thecost of preschool education, provideafter-school care, and subsidize trans-port costs for high-school students.Also, to meet the demands of societyfor tertiary-educated workers,although we cannot go so far as tooffer scholarships, we can provideassistance with interest on loans foruniversity entrance fees and coursefees. However, I do have reservationsabout such heavy subsidization.

Welfare for Senior Citizens: A Priority

- Your plans to break up and dispersethe housing development projects aimedat the young means that the young andsenior citizens will be intermixed. Thiswill create opportunities for naturalexchange between the two generations,for exchanges of information, exchangesof knowledge and experience. Recently,in many cities, policy concerning theaging population is causing a lot of con-cern. The percentage of senior citizensin this town is comparatively low.Mayor Aoyama: No, that is not the case.We are slightly below the average ofShimane, but we still have a high per-centage of senior citizens. In fact, con-cerning welfare for senior citizens,which takes up a large portion of wel-fare service, we are currently workingon several projects. As you probablyknow, when you can no longer lookafter your self, you are eligible for twokinds of service. One is to live with


Interview

your family and to receive servicesoccasionally, such as short stays, dayservice, and home help. The second isto go into a facility and receive servic-es. We are now working to set up thein-home service. By November 2002, awelfare center focusing on in-homeservices will be completed right in thecenter of the Kashima. The budget isabout 1.4 billion yen. Concerning facil-ities for the second kind of service, weare constructing a Special NursingHome, which will be completed by theend of the Bon Festival holidays nextyear, August 2002.

Formerly, in Kashima, we had ahospital with about 150 beds assignedto senior citizens patients. However,that hospital was converted into aConvalescent Home because facilityservices were regrouped into SpecialNursing Home, Health Facilities forSenior Citizens, and ConvalescentRest Facilities. So there is no need toworry about care for senior citizens inKashima. If anything, we have thefacilities for people from other cities aswell.

However, what we must concen-trate on, from now on, is what we aregoing to do about senior citizens whoare healthy and fit and those who arenot eligible for nursing insurance.There are many people who take theassessment test for the benefit and aretold, " No, sorry, you are not eligible."We have to work out how to care forpeople like these. That is our nextassignment.

So, to sum up, our town has well-equipped facilities to care for seniorcitizens. Now we are working on astrategy to encourage young people tobuild their lives here.

We Want Senior Citizens to Be Physicallyand Emotionally Healthy at All Times.

- So you are saying there is a needfor health facilities for seniors who are fitand healthy, those who do not need

to be in a facility,and those whocan do everythingfor themselvesso that theyremain healthyand strong.Mayor Aoyama: Iwould like to seesenior citizensinvolved in sportsand various activ-ities so that theycan enjoy physi-cal and emotional health. Recently, agate-ball ground was built in FukadaSports Park. It is a roofed gate-ballground.

- That is great. Regardless of theweather, you can play gate ball all yearround.Mayor Aoyama: Yes, and although it isstill in the planning stage and has notbeen definitely decided yet, we arethinking of building a ground golfcourse (a version of traditional golforiginating in Japan). Ground golf hasbecome popular all of the country. It iseasy to play, and you can even play byyourself. Gate ball, however, is a teamgame. In fact, ground golf is more pop-ular. In Kashima, we have about 100members and they often go out of townfor games. Sometimes overnight tourswith spouses. I have been invitedmyself, and everyone has an enjoyabletime. We are planning sports and cul-tural events like this.

As an example of a cultural event,we hold concerts. Every year, we haveUlmer Kammer Ensemble, a groupformed in Ulm Town, Germany. Theyearn a living from playing classicalmusic in Germany. That is how muchclassical music is a part of their lives.The leader is a Japanese, and there arefive members in the group. Instead oftouring the cities, where people haveplenty of opportunity to go to concerts,they choose to tour rural areas.

Kashima invites them to perform everyyear. They are very popular and tick-ets sell out. In the beginning, I wasworried if it would work, but it was agreat success. On the last tour, themembers told me that the acoustics ofthe hall are not good and this was less-ening the performance. They asked usto buy a sound reflecting board, and sowe did: a 12-million yen. The hallacoustics are excellent now.

Secret to Healthy Living is Getting Out ofthe House

- This picture hanging in your office isbeautiful.Mayor Aoyama: The pictures hanging inthe council buildings are donated byartists from Kashima. As well as con-certs, we also put effort into paintings.That artist teaches a painting class atthe Culture Center. We also haveHaiku classes and when we hold cul-tural exhibitions, people from variousfields like bonsai gather, and we holdpottery workshops.

Also, as a town, we plan to useabout one quarter of the space insidethe welfare center as a training work-space for the disabled to help thementer society. The main center for thedisabled is close to Kashima, which iswhy we decided to make a branch inour center.

I think it is important to continuewith projects that will support senior


citizens, help them to stay active andprevent them from becoming bedrid-den.

- The best solution is staying healthy,no matter your age, is that right?Mayor Aoyama: We had a great successwith a comparatively recent project.We used vacant houses and the like tomake a place where the local seniorcitizens could gather and drink teaand talk. It was a great success. Atfirst, it was difficult to get the seniorcitizens to leave their houses. Butonce they participate in the group, itworks really well. Leaders in thegroup make the effort to invite every-body.

Kashima's Dried Sardines Are Famous

In the fishing industry, Kashimahas a thriving processing business.Dried sardines, in particular, arefamous. In the Kansai market,Kashima dried sardines are big-namebrand products. Kashima dried sar-dines decide the price for the market.The main reason for the success isthe use of many small processingplants instead of mass production.Now there are fewer, but we used tohave about 30 family-owned process-ing plants each with between 10 and15 workers. We were successfulbecause our approach was not massproduction and mass consumption.Each plant produces their own special

flavor which helpsthem to compete.Furthermore, theyoung are takingover the businessfrom their par-ents and pushingahead. However,on a less positivenote, the rawmaterial beingprocessed, sar-dines, is nowhard to get hold

of and while we once enjoyed a catch of70,000 tons, that figure has dropped to15,000 tons. As a result of this, ourdried sardine sales have dropped from5 billion yen to 3 billion yen.

In the agricultural industry, ourmain product is rice. With rice andvegetables together we have about 0.4billion yen. Yet we have 200 ha of cul-tivatable land. Our fields have allbeen plowed to allow for latticed walk-ing paths through the fields. So with amechanized system even seniors orwomen can use it. We plan to reducerice production by 40% and use theextra area to grow crops other thanrice, this time, beans. We plan to revi-talize our agricultural industry withthe bean processing business.

- Listening to your comments, itsounds like you have already put intopractice, or are in the process of doingso, many policies to promote develop-ment in Kashima. With the constructionof Unit 3 reactor, the town will receive alot of revenue, for example fixed proper-ty tax. What plans do you have to fur-ther develop the town with this money?Mayor Aoyama: No, unfortunately ourpromotion policies are not soadvanced. However, we have veryhigh goals in Kashima. Regionaldevelopment plans and the FifthGeneral Plan are ready, all we need todo now is put them in order of priorityand find the financial backing. We

don't have the budget to put all theplans into action at once.

- At the moment, many local govern-ments are experiencing financial difficul-ties.Mayor Aoyama: It is the same here.However, in the case of tax moneyallocated to us by the Government, itis a bit like the carrot-and-stickapproach. The Government refuses todivide up expenses because small-scale local governments are expensiveto run and also issues of municipalityconsolidation. Fortunately, there aretwo kinds of subsidy: a general sub-sidy from the Government and a spe-cial subsidy. By having a nuclearpower plant, we are eligible for a spe-cial subsidy. However, the spending ofthese subsidies is heavily restricted.The restrictions are gradually improv-ing now.

Unit 3 Reactor Benefits NeighboringMatsue City

- The completion of Unit 3 reactor willbenefit local employment greatly.Mayor Aoyama: At the moment, I thinkabout 600 local people are working atthe power plant or related facilities.Once Unit 3 reactor is finished, thisnumber will increase. With threereactors, regular inspections will beneeded all year round, so people work-ing in inspection works will be neededin Kashima almost full time.However, Matsue City will benefit themost. Until now, we had two hotels inKashima; they both went bankrupt.No one used them because Matsue isso close. If the price is the same andthe facilities good, then people preferto go to Matsue. Companies pay foremployees commuting expenses, andit is easy to come and go by car. Thereare lots of interesting places to go atnight and it is fun.

Concerning the issue of encouragingthe young to settle here, I feel we stillhave a lot of work to do on developing


Interview

the physical environment. However,for young people it is not just a ques-tion of housing, a bigger city likeMatsue offers an easier and freerlifestyle. There is no need to worryabout neighborhood relations, orneighborhood duties.

- When we are young, that is true, butas we get older things change. Beingsocial with neighbors becomes impor-tant.Mayor Aoyama: Yes, that is right. Thatseems to be a big issue. Often theyoung, depending on the area, areoverwhelmed by more senior membersand don't feel able to participate in dis-cussions. They are expected to listenrepeatedly to the opinions of the sen-iors. However, that is, in fact, how welearn.

Educating Children about Energy

- Recently, there was an accident atthe Hamaoka nuclear power station.Taking this as an opportunity for change,as a politician, do you have anything tosay to electricity companies?Mayor Aoyama: A while ago, in thistown, we held a symposium calledEnergy Plaza sponsored by KashimaTown and Center for Development ofPower Supply Regions. One big issueof that symposium was exchangesamong production and consumptionareas. It is common for people in theconsumption area to use the most elec-tricity even though they are againstnuclear power. They think that elec-tricity just automatically comes fromthe outlet. Further, a poll of the resi-dents of Kaizan Town in MiePrefecture and Kariwa Village inNiigata Prefecture showed that theresidents' only perception of nuclearpower was that it is dangerous.Although this is true, there is clearly alack of education on nuclear power.

So, I would like to observe moreeducation for our children about ener-gy. With this mind, I looked at the

new school textbook. Nuclear power isexplained in terms of the environmentand fossil fuels as being dangerousbut, "an unavoidable choice."However, it does not explain what isdangerous, or the measures to protectagainst such danger. It is our priorityto educate about energy and to gainthe understanding of the people in theconsumption areas.

Many reporters come to Kashimahoping to find something. They askabout various issues that concern thepublic. What happens if there is anearthquake? What about humanerror? Or, nuclear fuel? Or the issueof radioactive wastes? My answer isthat if you are worried about earth-quakes, visit Tadotsu-cho in KagawaPrefecture where there are the seismictesting facility of the Nuclear PowerEngineering Corporation. If you areconcerned about waste issues, visitRokkasho-mura in Aomori Prefecturewhere there is the Waste DisposalFacility of Japan Nuclear FuelLimited. I reply by telling them whyworry about something they have noteven been to see yet. The people ofKashima also had these concerns, butwe held many observation tours to thefacilities. After visiting the facilitiespeople would say, "That was a realeye-opener." So, I would like to see ourchildren receiving education. Also, Iwant to promote projects that will helpto gain the understanding of the peo-ple living in the consumption areas.

Looking at Consolidation ofMunicipalities from the Aspect of EnergyPolicy

One more point to address is theconsolidation of municipalities issue.Actually, a while ago there was a con-ference for all municipalities hostingnuclear power plants in Japan. Themayors who gathered for the confer-ence were apprehensive about uniformconsolidation. The bigger a town gets,

the more criticism it receives. It wouldhave been a hard job getting consentfor the nuclear power plant if we hadhad to get consent from Matsue Cityas well. Once municipalities consoli-date, getting consent from the sur-rounding municipalities to buildanother reactor would mean gettingconsent from the equivalent of half ofShimane Prefecture.

Energy policy and safe supply ofenergy should be a national policy.The consolidation of municipalities isimportant, but I think we need to con-sider it from the aspect of energy poli-cy. We are, of course, interested inregional development, but more impor-tantly, as citizens we have duties tofulfill. We see those duties as being toensure a safe supply of energy. Therehave been many obstacles to overcome,but we will continue with our job.

One reason for consolidation is thelikelihood of local subsidies decreasingbecause of Japan's weakening finan-cial situation. If this is the case, townswith nuclear power plants will befinancially at an advantage.

- Towns hosting nuclear power plantshave been subject to a lot of criticismand hardship. Neighboring townsescape all of this, but they still benefitfrom the power subsidy.Mayor Aoyama: It has been a difficultexperience for me. At municipalassemblies, Kashima's nuclear powerplant has been labeled "troublesomefacilities." It is difficult to respondwhen people say they have reserva-tions about consolidation with a townthat has "troublesome facilities." Thepeople making these statements arepartially expressing how they reallyfeel, and partly making political state-ments. Either way, it is difficult torespond.

So I would like to see nuclear energybecome a part of national, not local,policy.

- Thank you very much.


September 11, 2001

That day the sky of Provence, south-ern France, was again painted all indeep blue with no cloud seen at all. Insight beyond a mediterranean pinerywas a strange mountain mass havingpurplish or pinky folds carved into itsashen surface. There stood a St. Victoiremountain which gave P. Cezanne achance to escape from a sorrowlife inParis and regain the insatiable spirit ofquest for drawing, attracted by the over-whelming power of nature shaped bygreens and light.

We decided to go by taxi from thetown of Aix en Provence (or Aix) to St.Victoire on a holiday in search of anyobjects that must have inspired a greatmaster of paintings' appetite for draw-ing. The taxi driver proudly said that hehad spent some time in his younger daysas a chauffeur of Pablo Picasso living inthe neighborhood. Proving his words, hestopped his car at one site whereCezanne was thought to have put up hiseasel after another. The only concernwas, however, that he not only broughthis own dog with him and drove whileholding this dog in his left hand but alsosometimes took even his vital right handoff the steering wheel for desperate talkswith exaggerated gesture. Although thisis almost impossible in Japan, we feltgood will toward this nice and kind sortof driver who seemed to have some trou-ble in his legs.

Meanwhile, how great the presence of

this brightest and simplest landscape is!How encouraging the telepathy sent tous from the St. Victoire mountain whichappears to constantly swell and wriggleis! The world there is never a paradise ofpeace which simply heals us. It experi-enced drying as well as strong wind andoccasionally field fires. In a museumlocated at the foot of the mountain, a les-son from exhibits and panoramas wasthat the history of this district going backto the time of dinosaurs is variegatedwith many disasters. Nevertheless, thismountain had its own somewhatunshakable and firm presence.

To us just getting out of the museumand walking toward the taxi, our driverwas beckoning before his car. He wascrying something in French. Listeningmore carefully, we heard him saying, "Aterrible incident occurred in America.Terrorists attacked somewhere byplanes, causing many casualties."

We hastily rode into the car and lis-tened to the radio. We all became silentand the driver intently drove his carheaded for the town of Aix, frequentlysaying, "Oh my God!" or "Terrible!" Afterreturning to the hotel, we were, like allpeople in the world, looking at that veryTV picture many times, from the planecrash into the World Trade Center build-ings until their collapse.

The World Trade Center, one of themodern civilization's most towering arti-ficial creatures, fell down all too soononly to become a pile of rubbish. Thisempty image was more than a good con-

trast to the security felt of the St. Victoiremountain we had so far viewed.Actually, the collapse of buildings, notonly convenient as well as comfortable tolive in, equipped with most sophisticatedtechnology products, but also completedwith IT (information technology) func-tions was striking evidence of how adja-cent our modern society is to a danger.

Coexistence of Civilization with Risk

Two months later, I attended aNovember 6 meeting of discussion heldat Salle Victor Hugo attached toAssemblée Nationale, Paris. The themewas "Nuclear Energy: Abandonment orRelaunch? - International Aspects."During the afternoon session, it was Ms.D. Voynet who delivered opinions beforeI did. She is an anti-nuclear energycampaign leader whom only thoseknowing her can really appreciate. Sheis National Secretary of Les Verts(French Greens) and also the very figurewho called off Super-Phénix (FastBreeder Reactor) Project while in JospinCabinet until last year (2000) asMinister for Regional Planning and theEnvironment.

Paying respects to participants fromthe United States and Japan, she beganher plain speech, but its contents wereconsiderably severe. According to her, atpresent in France, the electricity supplyexceeds the demand so it is rather impor-tant to suppress any increase in energyconsumption. She further claims ourefforts to develop renewable energy so

Praise the Living with Nature

Yuji Tsushima


that the next generation may evade fromnuclear energy in a certain period oftime. She also referred with stress to stillunsolved problems of radioactive wastedisposal and accumulated plutonium.

This was followed by my urged pres-entation of opinions. I mentioned ever-increasing demand for energy world-wide, particularly, in the Asian regionwhere population will grow in the future,and indispensable development undersuch circumstances of the types of ener-gy releasing no warming gas, referring toour special consideration of the nuclearfuel cycle as a valuable source of energyto be domestically produced in Japan notonly poor in natural energy resources butalso having no external distribution lineconnection unlike continental countries.Then after telling about the legislativeaction taken to promote measures forradioactive waste disposal as well as use-fulness of internationally cooperated dis-closure and furnishing of information insolving the safety problem of nuclearenergy uses, I put to an end my sometwenty-minute speech with another ref-erence to the fruit borne throughJapanese cooperation with France. I felta little embarrassed when applaudedwith unexpectedly large clapping ofhands at that end of speech. It mayprobably have been accepted by the audi-ence as a moderate refutation againstMs. D. Voynet's claims. It seems thatthey agreed with the idea that humanbeings now possessing nuclear energyare destined to live with it.

It is a fact of no doubt that, in the mod-ern society, people cannot help but livewith risks. The extremity of such risksmust be a war and, in recent years, ter-rorism also more widely scatters anotherdanger across national borders. Thissort of danger is associated with anintrinsic human nature and its roots willnever cease to exist. Experts point outthat, within human beings who havesince the primitive ages depended uponcaptured beasts and other animals for

protein to live and staveoff hunger, there is amechanism whichsecretes catecholaminein their bodies to excitethem when they gohunting. Actually, wecould have reachedwhere we are nowwhile living with suchintrinsic desires forfighting and conquest.If so, we must alwaystry and act so thathuman beings should not be made a foolof by a dangerous impulse or passion aswell as actively build a protective systemagainst rioters instigated by a humanrage. It can even be said that civilizationwas built on taut relations of man-dan-ger coexistence.

World of Living Together

In the nature of St. Victoire andProvence which is bright as if it enclosedeverything, however, is there not anyrisk like that in New York and otherlarge modern cities? No, not at all. ThisProvence area suffered from various sizesof forest fires almost every year (some-times fanned by a strong wind calledmistral into a huge accident), occasional-ly a flood, and even large earthquakes.

People have also been troubled bymany natural enemies since ancienttimes. Crops might have been eaten bywild bores or hares and vine leaves, bit-ten away by snails. People felt troubledby these enemies but have all too soonpreyed on such animals as their ownfood and at last established a worldwhere they live with their natural ene-mies. Not to speak of Provence in south-ern France, the so-called Bordeaux-to-Languedoc area became in due course atreasury of dishes cooked from such cap-tured wild animals (called "gibier" inFrench and "game" in English).Bourgognes, Kingdom of Wine, is thehome of dishes of snail ("escargot" in

French), a natural enemy.In this trip, we stayed at Provence for

four days, during which we ate, day andnight, bamboo pheasant, quail, hare,wild bore, deer, lamb, guinea fowl, wildduck, dove, pheasant, and other meatsbut never came across beef after all.This was not because they had particu-lar concern over mad cow disturbance inJapan but because beef was only a sidedish in the restaurant's menu. Deeplyimpressed by how well less familiarwildlife meats had been cooked to meetthe character of each, our 5 or 6 partymembers all, including myself, couldtaste them almost without feeling anyresistance while sipping at a wine suit-able for each dish.

The world of Provence is just a place ofcoexistence/coprosperity between manand nature or living creatures includingnatural enemies and human beings. Sothe importance for human beings to fullyenjoy such godsends is to become grate-ful to Mother Nature and the Providenceof God as well as to say an expiatoryprayer to those living creatures preyedupon, isn't it? Or man will most likely beproud and arrogant enough to ravagenature until he finally begins to tread thepath to ruin. Western societies' eventssuch as Thanksgiving and Halloweenare partly thought to have first comefrom the intention to seek permission fordestruction of life and to relieve his senseof guilt. Farmers' prayer as seen in

St. Victoire


( )

Millet's picture appears to me one of thelandscapes to be drawn with this inmind. In this regard, since a Shinto ritu-al called Shijoko-matsuri, a ceremony tothank God for land and marine productsas her gifts while appeasing the souls ofliving creatures, is also held in Japanamong cooks every year, it may reason-ably be said the both the East and theWest have the same in common.

Fish and Vegetable Markets Viewed inFrance

Some criticize too expensive costs forfood distribution in Japan. Complexintervention in the farmer-to-consumerdelivery process and excessive wrappingare among another targets of criticism.This is compared for reference withopen-air markets in France. Those whopurchased articles from farmers carrythem in their own trucks to open spaceswithin the city and put up temporarystalls for direct sale to citizens. Theseopen spaces are for public uses and mar-kets are held in the morning everyday insome and several times a week in others.Around when it ends early afternoon,they clean there.

Open-air markets in Aix en Provenceare held, using an open space and near-by roads. Articles sold there include notonly food but also clothing, householdgoods, and flowering plants tocassette/audio-related appliances andsmall tools, putting Japanese supermar-kets in shade. At any rate, however, themost magnificent is a view of food cor-ners. Familiar beef, pork, and chickenare arranged on the stalls in a jostlingmanner as it were, flayed rabbits aresuspended and, next to them, unpluckedhares and ducks are placed with bamboopheasants and quails stuffed for cooking.Furthermore, still alive edible doves arefeebly cooing in cages.

Abundance as well as cheapness ofvegetables/fruits and fresh fishes alsosurprised us. Fish species were in noway less than those in markets of Japan,

a fisheries kingdom, and everything wasthere including shellfishes, sea urchins,cuttlefishes, and octopuses.

We went around open-air markets inParis, stopping to see two of them atMontparnasse and Neuilly. Prices seema little higher than in Provence but theabundance of commodity items is neverunfavorably compared. And there arealso rare chances to come across surpris-ing food items.

At a fish restaurant in Brussels, ourfirst place of visit during this trip, I sawsomething strange in an "assorted seafood" dish served on the next table. Itlooked like a mollusk but was neithershellfish nor fish nor seaweeds. I askedthe restaurant's waiter, "What's that?"and he answered, "It's a violet." Thissomewhat odd-kind item kept on mymind for some time was also sold atopen-air markets in Provence. There Ionce again asked, "What is this called?"The answer was the same "violet." "Howdo you eat it?" was responded by "We eatit raw by cutting skin and taking outflesh." After returning home, I consulteda dictionary titled "Koji-rin" and foundan explanation for the heading of "ascidi-an" to the effect that "Called 'violet,' thisis also eaten in southern France." Thisascidian may possibly be no kind of thoseserved as food (true ascidians) but, inany event, what fowl feeders humanbeings are, both in the East and theWest, to eat such a grotesque mollusk! Itwas a new finding that they serve this asfood not only in southern France but alsoin Paris and Brussels.

Selling of barnacles at fish shops inAix en Provence was another discovery.People go so far as to make available foreating the very underwater fixtureswhich sometimes stick to hulls and evento animal skins only to become nui-sances. That reminded us of there beinga restaurant serving good-cooked barna-cle dishes in Aomori City.

Open-air markets in Aix en Provencehad shops specializing in locally pro-

duced olives and herbs, not speak ofcheese, where we casually made a con-siderable purchase of thyme, basil, rose-mary, and so on. Apples, pears and vari-ous kinds of strawberries are rather goodin quality and sold cheap (you can buy "lafrance" pear for 200 yen per kilogram.)

Walking in an open-air market, Iremembered a passage of the OldTestament (Chapter 9 of Genesis) read-ing, "All animals, birds reptiles, and fishwill be afraid of you. I have placed themunder your control, and I have giventhem to you for food."

Be that as it may, how avaricioushuman beings are! What beings are theywho, though for subsistence, make somany living creatures their own? Even ifthis can be absolved, it is a plain fact thatthe said conduct itself is their deed as adeterminant factor in their future life.

Civilization can never avoid the coexis-tence with dangers, so we must firmlyrealize this reality to know how far wecould be absolved and should prey to behealed. This is the very origin forhuman beings to foster their culturefrom, isn't it? Turning it over in mymind, I left the open-air market.

Cezzane's "St. Victoire Mountain"drawn in his later years (1904-1906) isone of his masterpieces. The upper two-fifth or so of this picture has mountainsand the sky painted mainly in blue withwhite, gray, and dark blue shading. Thelower part based on a greenish tonedepicts, such as with yellow, orange, andblack, a panoramic view of house-scatter-ing fields and hills. There exists an inde-scribable world of harmony and rest.

Watching this picture in a book ofpaintings, I happily understood thatwhat Cezzane wanted to draw was theworld of Provence where all live togetherwhile what struck our heart that day ofSeptember 11 were the senses of suffi-ciency and security brought by thisabundant nature.

Member of the Houseof Representatives


Headquarter Functions at Rokkasho-mura

Business environment is beingchanged around the electric powerindustry. Electric power companieshave entered an era of quite severecompetition, particularly, triggered bythe partial deregulation*1 since March2001. JNFL responsible for thenuclear fuel cycle as a part of the elec-tric power industry-related businessalso now meets the time to initiate, notto speak of the smooth promotion ofboth operation and construction busi-nesses, reduction of related costs pay-ing due attention on safety. We areworking under such circumstances.

JNFL reviewed its organization as

well as decision-making system aimingfor stable business operation. Ourcompany is now based in Aomori Citybut accelerated construction of thereprocessing plant in Rokkasho-murahas reached its stage where plantoperation program should be substan-tially considered, making us deter-mined to transfer headquarter func-tions to Rokkasho-mura for theirintensive activities by the end of 2002.Important public relation tasks suchas Aomori prefecture-wide official con-tacts and media responses will be leftbehind in the city, of course, but regu-lar company activities are made ableto be completed in Rokkasho-muracurrently as our actual work-site.

Reprocessing Project in Steady Progress

Reprocessing business is the coreof our corporate undertakings.Construction works have made 78%progress by the end of October 2001.This rate of progress is compared atpresent with that designed to bereached before start of operation, find-ing the works expedited. This shoulddesirably work in favor at the followingtest-run and other stages. The con-struction is synthetically making goodprogress.

For example, within the head-endprocess building where spent fuel iscut to pieces and dissolved with nitricacid, water-flow testing began in April2001, using water or steam. This is atest to find any problem with equip-ment at an early stage. In case ofFrench reprocessing plant, around80% of problems, such as a differentflow of water from the value calculat-ed, are found at this stage of water-

In Japan, preparatory arrangements are under way for the construction of the uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel)fabrication plant in Rokkasho-mura village. This facility is indispensable for the reuse of plutonium further derived from nuclearpower plants in operation. It is Japan's first private-sector large-scale MOX fuel fabrication plant being highly expected to helpsecure the constant supply of future energy. Messrs. Masashi Sasaki, President and Morihiro Yoneda, Director and GeneralManager of MOX Fuel Fabrication Dept., Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) gave us in November 2001 their views on the sig-nificance and progress of the MOX fuel fabrication plant construction program. (Editor)

Construction Program of the Rokkasho MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant

Masashi Sasaki President, JNFLMorihiro Yoneda Director & General Manager, MOX Fuel Fabrication Dept., JNFL

*1 : Partial deregulation of electric utilities; To both improve the electric power industry's effi-ciency and contribute to public interest, a competitive system was put into force in andafter March 2000, permitting large factories and other consumers using 2 MW or more(accounting for about 30% of national total) other than existing power companies to supplyelectricity as retailers.


flow testing. So we are using utmostefforts for such testing. Since construc-tion works for the reprocessing plantare approaching to completion andwater-flow testing has already begun,it is an important time for us, I think,to proceed with construction worksand testing in parallel. It is furtherimportant to run the plant, so wedecided to receive technological assis-tance in various forms under an agree-ment to be signed with COGEMA ofFrance to learn its operation technolo-gy. About 70 people including thoseresponsible for operation, their assis-tant leaders, and senior operators wereto be sent for training at La HaguePlant, France. The first team of themsent is now being trained for anexpected period of about three monthsfrom early September to December2001.

The program has just begun, with aview to using the results of the firsttraining for the second and then forthe third and later. Every trainee islearning under, as it were, a two-for-one system, attended by two instruc-tors at side; one as a speaking advisorsaying, "Run it this way" or "Do thatway," and the other as an overall con-troller. Prior to reprocessing business,we must make spent fuel ready to beprocessed. Planning to prepare 1,600tons of spent fuel for the business bythe time when its operation will start,we received spent fuel for the first timein December 2000. By December2001, 1,518 canisters of 348 tons inweight were already received. Thecapacity of the storage pool 3,000 tons,

means a little over 10% of the capacitywas received.

All-Japan Regime Expected for NewEnrichment Technology Development

Next to say, regarding uraniumenrichment business, the business isunder operation on the capacity of1,050tSWU*2 per annum. In reality,however, a little larger number of cen-trifuges have come to a stand, reducingthe capacity to the present 900tSWUper annum. Committed to build an1,500 ton plant to the local community,we are following our constructionschedule. Nevertheless, in an attemptto further improve the capability ofenrichment centrifuges from an eco-nomic viewpoint, we started up adevelopment organization called"Uranium Enrichment TechnologyDevelopment Center" in November2000 under a program to start produc-tion with new enrichment centrifugessome nine years later from around2010. We have just begun to develop

new technology for intended effortsunder an all-Japan system comprisingof the Japan Nuclear CycleDevelopment Institute (JNC), whichpossesses enrichment technology,Japanese manufacturers, and our com-pany. A year has passed since the cen-ter was established and it is now thetime to enter into concrete activites ofdevelopment with its steadilyimproved foundation.

Expansion of the Vitrified Waste StorageBuilding under Planning

As for the business to store high-level radioactive waste, the existingstorage facility has its capacity to con-tain 1,440 canisters. Vitrified waste,when returned from overseas, werereceived 6 times so far from 1995. 464canisters have so far been received.This accounts for about two-thirds ofthe 1,440-canister storage capacity. Ifthe reception of vitrified waste is keptin steady progress in the future, it willrequire a new storage building around2005. To do such extension, therefore,we applied to the government in July2001 for approval of the new storagebuilding construction. The facility, ifcompleted, will double the presentstorage capacity to 2,880 canisters inall.

When the additional facility is com-pleted, the high-level radioactive wastereturned to Japan after reprocessed atJapanese request so far made can beall stored in it. The volume required tobe stored is approximately 2,200 canis-ters and this means there is someroom left in this facility.

Preliminary Survey Started for Disposalof Low-Level Radioactive Waste

Speaking of low-level radioactive

Mr. Masashi Sasaki

*2 : SWU; A Separative Work Unit (SWU) is a unit of measurement of the uranium enrich-ment work needed to separate the U-235 and U-238 in natural uranium in order to createa final product. To be added to a weight unit (kgSWU, tSWU).


waste disposal business, No.1 DisposalFacility can dispose of 200 thousanddrums and 132,011 drums havealready been disposed of. No.2Disposal Facility is a facility wheremetals are disposed of after changedinto a disposable form by containingthem in a drum and pouring mortar init. It adjoins No. 1 Facility but is usedfor different purposes. The No.2 hasdisposed of 2,520 drums since October2000.

Low-level radioactive waste itemswhose radioactivity is relatively highmay possibly be buried deep quiteenough for common underground use,for example, some 50m to 100m belowthe ground surface, according to theconcept for disposal adopted afterreview by the Atomic EnergyCommission. Low-level radioactivewaste items to be disposed of in such amanner include relatively high-levelradioactive metals and spent plasticsderived from nuclear power plant andother facility operation or dismantle-ment. Our company, to know whetheror not these waste items can safely bedisposed of within the Rokkasho-muraestablishment, just started in July2001 preliminary survey by boring ofsoil and underground water with theconsent of local peoples. If surveyresults are found favorable, we are tomove on to the following intensive sur-vey stage. Consent of the local peopleswill, however, always be obtained eachtime we move on to the followingstage. We feel relieved at the success-ful start of the first stage for prelimi-nary survey.

These four businesses now in ourcharge are all in operation exceptreprocessing. Reprocessing business isalso nearing to start operation at last.

MOX Fuel Fabrication as Our FifthBusiness

JNFL's new business is MOX fuelfabrication business. JNFL, whosearticles of incorporation were alreadychanged for ready operation of theMOX fuel fabrication business, wasrequested by the Federation of ElectricPower Companies in November 2000to undertake the business. At such arequest, we expressed our intention tobecome an operator of MOX fuel fabri-cation business after review within ourcompany. This means we have ourfifth business.

Later, we signed a technical cooper-ation agreement with JNC as well asan agreement for technology transferwith COGEMA of France while contin-uing to improve the basic design.Further in August 2001, we requestedAomori Prefecture and Rokkasho-mura to cooperate with us in findingthe MOX fuel fabrication plant site.We are very grateful to Aomori Pref.and Rokkasho-mura for their kindreview now under way at our requestfor cooperation in finding such site.MOX fuel fabrication is a businessclosely associated with reprocessingbut a new one not contained in theexisting basic agreement for locationwith local residents. AomoriPrefectural Governor Kimura receiv-ing the request thus made an honor-able statement, saying, "To securelyfollow procedures or proceedings withtoo much prudence is also to take theintention of people in our prefectureinto consideration for the conclusion tobe drawn through discussions such asat the prefectural assembly."

Concrete procedures or proceedingsfor Aomori Pref. were addressed at the

"security check & review meeting" sofar held twice. The first such meetingwas followed by the second where theywere invited to inspect the MOX facili-ty of JNC in Tokai-mura and the thirdone is soon to be held. Another "AomoriWise Men's Meeting for Atomic EnergyPolicies" was held and followed by thesecond such meeting, where the sameJNC's MOX facility was also inspectedthat time. Moreover, deliberation isalready in effect in the prefecturalassembly. Explanation by the prefec-ture will further be given in future toimportant regions, for example, somesix blocs inclduing Aomori, Hirosaki,and Hachinohe cities for subsequenthearing of opinions of residents. Weshall be happy if they could form a gen-eral judgment with confirmed govern-ment policies and the status of the plu-tonium-thermal utilization programborne in mind. Meanwhile, Rokkasho-mura including its mayor and assem-bly also kindly expresses its willing-ness to widely hear from residents andthen take response measures in coop-eration with the prefecture.

We think we will work hard tosteadily promote MOX fuel fabricationbusiness while positively reducingcosts to achieve the intended interna-tionally competitive level of price.

At any rate, we base our jobs on thefully secured safety and improvedbusiness foundation toward the well-established nuclear fuel cycle as wellas the reliable and firm relationshipwith local people. Under such a basicpolicy, we are well-determined to con-tinue our all-out efforts.

Setting Out for the MOX Fuel FabricationBusiness Project

Stating in a little more detail about


how we have come to start MOX fuelfabrication business, we were request-ed by the Federation of Electric PowerCompanies (FEPC) in October 1998 tocooperate with the federation in con-ducting survey for the industrializa-tion of MOX fuel fabrication business.JNFL, at the said request, started thesurvey for industrialization in follow-ing December to be completed in abouttwo years. During the period, the sec-tion entitled "Fabrication of MixedOxide Fuel" was added to Objectives ofBusiness in our Articles ofIncorporation in March 1999. In Juneof the same year, we signed a technicalcooperation agreement for industrial-ization survey with JNC, under whichwe are now provided with technicalinformation as well as engineers.

After the two-year survey, we sub-

mitted to FEPC in November 2000 areport of this survey, and, in accor-dance with this report, FEPC conclud-ed at its General Policy Committee -organized by presidents- to the effectthat MOX fuel business could be fullyindustrialized in Japan. Followingthis, FEPC requested our company tooperate this business and weexpressed our intention to become anoperator of this business. This was fol-lowed by our establishment of MOXFuel Fabrication Department in JNFLin December 2000. At the same time,we signed a technical cooperationagreement on plant construction andoperation with JNC. Then we pre-pared any necessary arrangements,including basic plant designing, forrequesting Rokkasho-mura to cooper-ate with us in finding the location of

the plant and, in August 2001,requested Aomori Pref. and Rokkasho-mura to give such cooperation. Oursuch request was responded by thecentral government with the followingcomments: First from the Minister ofEconomy and Industry; "The MOXfuel fabrication plant is a facility whereplutonium and other useful resourcesrecovered from spent fuel at reprocess-ing plant are fabricated into MOX fuelfor the use at nuclear power plantsand indispensable for firmly establish-ing nuclear fuel cycle in Japan." TheAtomic Energy Commission also com-mented on this project, saying, "This isa facility which serves as the founda-tion for Japan's nuclear fuel cycle andis indispensable. The recent requestfor cooperation in finding a location ofthe plant complies with the purpose of

MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant (Conceptional Drawing)


the Long-Term Program for Research,Development and Utilization ofNuclear Energy of the AEC."

Japan Also Having Experience in UsingMOX Fuels

The first to be cited as one of worldlymajor MOX fuel fabrication plants isDessel PO Plant of Belgium, which iscapable of fabricating 40 tons eachyear in successive 30-year operation.In France, Cadarache Plant (CFCa)has the capacity of 40 tons per annumand MELOX Plant at Marcoule of 100tons per annum capacity, where addi-tional doubled extension has been com-pleted, I hear. In U.K., there is a smallMOX fuel fabrication plant with itsannual capacity of 8 tons called MDFin Sellafield, where another 120 ton-a-year plant called SMP has alreadybeen built and is now on the stage oftest operation with uranium.

Japan has experience in the fabrica-tion of fuel for "Fugen", an advancedthermal reactor (ATR), at No.2Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility(PFFF) (Tokai) of JNC and for "Joyo"and "Monju", fast breeder reactors(FBRs), at No.3 PFFF. Germany'sHanau Plant whose building hasalready been completed is to be dis-mantled due to the change of nuclearenergy policy of Germany.

Nuclear power plants have beenloaded with MOX fuels since morethan 30 years ago mainly in Europeancountries including France andGermany, both of which have actuallyused 1,000 assemblies or more of MOXfuels respectively. Japan has so farloaded 735 MOX fuel assemblies, 729of which were fabricated at a JNCfacility and loaded at the ATR "Fugen"plant. Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant's

Unit 1 boiling water reactor (BWR)was further loaded with two assem-blies and, in the case of pressurizedwater reactor, Mihama Plant's Unit. 1,with 4 from the late 1980s to the early1990s for trial uses.

Actual Contribution of Plutonium toElectricity Generation at All NuclearPower Plants

MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuel means atype of fuel made by mixing uraniumoxide with plutonium oxide. Fuelassemblies loaded in a nuclear reactorare of the same shape as those of ura-nium fuel. 10mm-long pellets areplaced into zirconium alloy-claddedtubes, which are bundled into anassembly of the same design as that ofuranium fuel. Difference here is thecontents of the pellets. Uranium fueluses easy-to-burn U-235 enriched to 3-5%. On the other hand, MOX fuel con-tains 4-9% of plutonium-239 instead ofthis easy-to-burn U-235 and part ofthis plutonium is to burn.

Also at existing nuclear powerplants operated with only uraniumfuel, as a matter of burnup ratio forpower generation, U-235 burns to gen-erate about 63% of power and then,plutonium-239 converted from urani-um-238 during reactor running furtherburns, generating some 30%. That is,even at a plant loaded with only urani-um fuel, it is an established fact that30% or so of power is generated by plu-tonium produced within reactors."Plutonium-Thermal Utilization"(using MOX fuel for light water reac-tors) sounds like a new story but inreality, plutonium is burnt at all 430nuclear power plants worldwide and30% of electricity is generated sponta-neously by this very plutonium.

Fabrication Business: from FuelManufacturing through Transportation toPower Plants

JNFL's MOX fuel fabrication plantfollows the subsequent processes:MOX powder, source material takenout of the reprocessing plant, is mixedwith uranium dioxide powder until therequired plutonium concentration isreached. The mixture is fabricatedinto a cylindrical shape and then, likein pottery, sintered at high tempera-ture into "pellets." These pellets areplaced into a some 4m-long/1cm-thickzirconium alloy-cladded tube, whoseboth ends are capped and welded intoa "fuel rod." These fuel rods are bun-dled into a "fuel assembly," whichundergoes inspection. Later fuelassemblies are transported in casks tonuclear power plants.

The maximum capacity of this fabri-cation plant is 130 tons per annum.Such a capacity is enough to fabricateinto MOX fuel the total amount of plu-tonium extracted from JNFL's repro-cessing plant each year. Its building isabout 80m x 80m in size and of ferro-concrete with three stories under andone, partially two, above the ground.Main processes are placed under-ground. The plant's location is adja-cent to the reprocessing plant's MOXfuel powder storage building. The con-struction period is expected to com-mence around April 2004 for intendedoperation start around April 2009.Construction will cost about 120 billionyen and operation workers will num-ber a little less than 300.

Safety -- First Priority

We wish to base safety measures on,as a matter of course, the compliance


The Rokkasho plant will execute trial-run by testing it first with uraniumand then with actual MOX fuel, thispossibly requiring one and a half yearsor so. It does not mean that construc-tion will take five years but that thefive years include trial runs. Threeand a half or some 4 years are requiredfor construction works.Member B: Terrorist attacked sky-scrapers in the U.S. on September 11.Did your ant-aircraft crash measuresalso take such attacks into considera-tion?Yoneda: As for our measures, sincethere is Misawa Air Base in the neigh-borhood, as you know, all buildingsincluding those of the reprocessingplant are so designed as to avoid anyinfluence of aircraft crashes, say, mili-tary plane crashes.Sasaki: Being next to the military base,its design is based on the principle ofno problem with any aircraft crash, forexample, even if a fighter comes to it atthe right angle.Member B: Is it all right if a jumboplane crashes?Sasaki: For the most extreme case likeone assuming a jumbo passengerplane crash incident caused by terror-ists, we still have no calculation.

Industrial Facilities Taking Measures forEvery Aircraft Crash Cannot Be Built

Member A: If a jumbo or a militaryplane crash must be taken into consid-eration, it will be limitless in the caseof not only nuclear but also any otherfacilities and plants, I think.Member B: Since they were jumbo-class planes that crashed, their sizemakes the incident appear dreadfulbut the plane contents are almostempty and what weigh are only fuel

with any of laws/regulations, stan-dards, and criteria as well as the rea-sonably attainable lowest level of doseto not only radiation workers but alsothe general public. We further intendto use every and any prudent securitypolicy by completing safety measuressuch as through criticality safety con-trol, containment of radioactive mate-rials, and radiation shielding. We willtake radiation shielding measures toreduce exposure by first shielding radi-ation with building structure walls andthen using automated/remote-control-lable equipment and machinery forintended reduction in radiation work-ers' exposure. Radioactive materialsare to be contained such as by the useof a glove box*3. This means most ofthe works will be done within the glovebox.

Concerning measures for preventingfire/explosion, such measures aretaken first by the utilization of non-flammable or fire-retardant materials.As regards flying objects, measureswill be taken on the assumption thataircraft actually crashed onto a plant.Due to the nearby presence of the U.S.Air Force's Misawa Base as unique tothe social environment around plantsin Rokkasho-mura, we think we must

use measures against flying objects,say, over like the reprocessing plant.

Our aseismic measures will alsomake the plant, like other JNFL facili-ties, fully capable of standing earth-quakes. Criticality may be avoided,though less likely to become criticaldue to the use of a dry process, such asthrough quality/quantity control,shape/size control, and the use of neu-tron absorbers.

Radioactive wastes are disposed ofafter divided into gases, liquids, andsolids. In the case of gases, radioactivesubstances are removed through ahigh-performance air filter attached atseveral stages and discharged after thesafety is confirmed while continuallymonitoring them. Liquid waste likeused water for hand washing is filtrat-ed or made adsorbed, if necessary, andthen sent to the reprocessing plantafter assuring its radioactive level isbelow that designated by laws. Fromthe reprocessing plant, release pipeswill be used for its discharge to the sea.Solid waste, inflammable, fire-retar-dant, or non-flammable in nature, willbe containerized by classification forintended storage at a building of thereprocessing plant.

Anti-Aircraft Crash Measures Are AlreadyTaken

Member A: How long did it takeMELOX Plant in France from com-

mencement of construction works tostart of operation? In the case of theRokkasho plant, it is expected to takefive years, isn't it?Yoneda: It took much the same period.

Exchange of Opinions

*3 : Glove box; A sealed box to handle radioactive materials in it. Wearing a pair of glovesattached to the box from outside to inside, a worker treats the materials.


and engines. Fuel disappears if itburns out, so a problem is how engineswill work when the plane crashes. Inthis respect, the engine behavior at thetime of crashing in and around theWakasa Bay was all calculated beforenuclear power plants were built.

According to those calculations, it isall right if only a plane jet enginecrashes sidewise, except the case ofbombardment from warships. A prob-lem is the possibility of a headfirstdropping plane engine's falling plumpon the nuclear reactor, so it must bechecked if it will be all right if suchoccurs. But if all must be taken intoconsideration, not only nuclear-relatedbut also any other things cannot bedone at all in our current society.Member A: It comes to mean that con-struction of any building structure isimpossible, doesn't it?Yoneda: Since buildings of theRokkasho reprocessing plant will havetheir 1.2m-thick ceilings, measuresagainst aircraft crashes from abovewill work. There seems almost noproblem with the MOX fuel fabricationplant whose equipment is mostly setunderground. This is the same for thereprocessing plant. But if a missileand the like are assumed, it is notalways safe.Member B: As you say, if you simply say

everything is all right, it may ratherprovoke.Member C: What do you think about ifthis kind of building structure is strongor weak against the fire caused when ahuge amount of fuel exploded above?Yoneda: Both ceilings and walls are1.2m or more thick, so the fire of jetfuel almost never causes walls tocrumble into decay, I think.

Ceiling in a Safety Design

Member A: But taking something likethe recent terrorist attacks intoaccount, is a little thicker walls or ceil-ings under your consideration?Sasaki: Designing of the MOX fuel fab-rication plant is now in progress.Since nearing completion, no futurechange is contemplated for the repro-cessing plant which is about to enterits period of test-run. Of course, dur-ing the reprocessing plant designing, aseverer case of right-angle crashingwas assumed for the design ratherthan a slanting crash. Any possibleaccident is assumed, particularly, withrespect to nearby Misawa Air Baseand its firing range.Member A: If all possible attacks areassumed, it will invite a situationwhere the whole of the Japanese archi-pelago must be covered by a nuclearshelter, including living houses, facto-

ries, the Diet Building, Shinkansen(bullet train) lines, and highways,won't it?Member B: If a 20kt (20 thousand tonsof TNT explosive-equivalent yield)-class missile is shot in, whatever mak-ing is of no use.Member A: If whatever making is of nouse, there is some upper limit indesigning as safe a thing as possible, Ithink. Nevertheless, a certain protec-tive facility is required to make safetyunderstood, isn't it?Yoneda: The issue of safety such as at awartime should be reviewed within theframework of Japanese security, wethink.Sasaki: We have no experience in anyform of the recent incident. If we cor-dially propose you to consider the saidcase as a matter of Japan's security,we would like you to understand ourmore strenuous efforts than any otherestablishments rather than taking oursuch attitude as evasive. Anyway,however, when asked by various visi-tors while working on a local site, thedifficulty to understand each other onthe same level now comes home to me.Member A: Since JNFL will be keptresponsible for the core part ofJapanese nuclear fuel cycle, weearnestly wish you to proceed with itprudently but enthusiastically.


#4

(Pluto)

A Section of Energy History -- Part II

"Arisawa, Asanuma and Others..."

Shigeru Goto

The nights have become longer. Acold wind blows over Tokyo, signal-ing that winter has arrived. I don'tremember when I started preferringto read during the cold season, fromlate fall through winter. Today isLabor Thanksgiving Day, a nationalholiday. From my study window, Isee the red cherry leaves being lightedup beautifully by the street lamps.

I start to read "Hiromi Arisawa'sHistory of the Showa Era," a set of 3beautifully bound books of essays onscholarship, ideology and humankind.

Arisawa describes his feelings as hestood on the professorial pulpit for thefirst time as assistant professor in theEconomics Department of theUniversity of Tokyo. "It was thestrangest feeling - like something wasstuck in my chest; my stomach wasdoing summersaults, and my feetwere floating in the air." In front ofthis young assistant professor wholooked so unsure of himself were stu-dents who were bent on talking himdown: Tadataka Sata (who laterbecame Member of the House ofCouncilors and the Socialist Party)and Takee Serizawa (Professor ofMusashi University). After a bit of thelecture, they would start at him with"Professor, I have a question..." Sataand Serizawa, who made Arisawa say

"I always seemed to have trouble withthese students," (Essay: First Time onthe Pulpit) are also people that I can-not forget. I imagine the lecture sceneand cannot help but laugh.

It was at the beginning of theShowa Era. Arisawa invited assistantprofessor Gitaro Wakimura to create ademonstrative study group on worldeconomics. The group was made upof Isamu Abe, Ryokichi Minobe, KinjiMinami, Takee Serizawa and KinsakuSasagawa. Their knowledge wasgrowing rapidly and they had studiedmany materials, when the world sud-denly went into a state of panic. Ourcountry entered the dark ages, whichled to that detestable War.

"Hard Blow to Nine Individuals ofPeople's Front, National and PrivateUniversity Professors Included."

"Ouchi, Arisawa, Minobe AndOther Central Scholars Arrested ThisMorning"

The article with the above headlinestakes up the top 5 columns of the firstpage in the newspaper on February 2,1938. It includes photos of each ofthese professors, with Hyoe Ouchi inthe middle wearing an inverness.Serizawa's name can be seen as well.This happened around the time thatthe study group was beginning toattract attention, and members had

started to meet in each other's homesinstead of the university seminarroom. The members were arrested forviolation of the Maintenance of PublicOrder Law. At the end of the previ-ous year, Omori Gitaro and Ito Kodowho were at Chugai Shogyo ShinpoSha (Presently Nihon KeizaiShimbun), had been rounded up assympathizers of the worker-farmerschool. Arisawa was sent to theSugamo prison and made to stand infront of the inspector stark naked.

"In a solitary cell, it should beimpossible to know who is held nextdoor, but in 2 or 3 months of goingout to exercise or bath, one has vari-ous opportunities to figure out who isin what cell. For example, before Irealized, I already knew that (Hitoshi)Yamakawa was in the last cell of thesame prison, Sakisaka (Itsuro) wasfour or five cells away, and Serizawa(Takee) was across the corridor."(Essay: Under the Flag of Militarism -Inside and Out of the Dark Prison-)

I read Arisawa's book and went tothe pains of writing all of this becausethese were people that I wouldalways remember as life's teachers.

Soon after the war, I obtained theposition of full time clerk for theHeavy Electric and MachineryIndustry Labor Union through the


introduction of novelist TaikoHirabayashi's husband, Jinji Kobori,to whom I was referred by ItsuroSakisaka. Kobori was one of the lead-ers of the labor movement. For suchreasons, I began to receive the guid-ance of the professor group. Serizawawas the one that taught me about eco-nomic issues.

I often visited Serizawa at his homenear the Koishikawa botanical garden.He was always in kimono at hishome. Despite the ferocious imageone gets from the characters in hisname, Takee, he was easygoing andhad something that drew others tohim. I remember with pleasure hislooks and behavior atypical of a pro-fessor, of storing cigarettes cut in twoin a short cigarette holder. It is also aninteresting twist of fate that led me tomarry his niece.

Within the Socialist Party, I was towork on National Policy under thesuccessive Policy-Making AdvisoryBoard Chairmen such as Kodo Ito.Wada, who had the experience ofbeing put in prison as a leader of theReformists, had been Minister of Statewith the Yoshida Cabinet, but he puthis whole effort into the socialist partyand contributed as party leader. I wastaught about policy by Wada, whohad also been Director of EconomicStabilization Agency (ESA).

"I walk toward the looming snowymountains. Something is lacking."

This is a poem by Wada, who wasalso a poet. He attaches a note to thispoem, that "The socialist party workstoward obtaining political power. Butthere is something very importantmissing. I feel doubt. That maybethere is a lack in confidence in us atthe very core." When I look back towhen I argued about nuclear energywithin the party, I feel strongly thatthese feelings of Wada gave mecourage.

In August 1955, the International

Conference on the Peaceful Uses ofAtomic Energy (ICPUAE) was held inGeneva. It was Shigeyoshi Matsumaethat worked behind the scenes towardthe various parties to send a nonparti-san group of Diet members to thisconference. As a result, the attendingmembers were decided as MasaoMaeda (Liberal Party), YasuhiroNakasone (Democratic Party),Shigeharu Shimura (Socialist PartyLeft), Shigeyoshi Matsumae (SocialistParty Right).

"There was a lot of argument as towho to send... I really had a hardtime. Nakasone is now a well-knownpolitician who became PrimeMinister, but at that time, he was stilla young member of the Diet. Withinthe Party, there was strong oppositionbecause of his youth. I went to theeldest, Bukichi Miki, to ask for hissupport and finally obtainedapproval." (My History of Showa byShigeyoshi Matsumae)

Then there were those within theDiet Steering Committee who thoughtthat the conference was not importantenough for Japan to send Diet mem-bers. So, again, the issue was unde-cided. Matsumae pressed the govern-ment for any financing that they couldgive. The amount he was finally ableto receive for the trip was a meager10,000 yen. It is an awful story, butthis was enough for the delegation torepresent the Diet.

When they got to the internationalconference, European and Americanrepresentatives were standing up oneafter another to make their presenta-tions on the situation regarding tech-nological research on peaceful uses ofnuclear energy. However, Japan hadnothing to announce. The memberswere all grinding their teeth in frustra-tion at this awful scene. Finding thatthey had been like a frog in the wellthat knows nothing of the great ocean,they decided to go around to all of the

various European countries and theU.S. to find out more about what werehappening around the world. "Wediscussed the issue seriously everynight in a hotel room. After investi-gating the situation regarding thepeaceful uses of nuclear energy, westrongly felt the need to quickly pre-pare for the nuclear energy age."How many times did I hear this talefrom Matsumae and drawn in by hissparkling eyes to feel by myself theexcitement of the beginning of nuclearenergy development in this country.

Former Prime Minister Nakasonetold me the other day that "In the U.S.,we visited nuclear energy facilities.We went to Kissinger's Seminar atHarvard University, and in NewYork, we met with persons in theJapanese and U.S. financial circles andlistened to the advice of RyokichiSagane at UC Barclay." The four dele-gates ended up swearing to eachother that they would enact theAtomic Energy Basic Law and pro-mote the establishment of theMinistry of Science and Technologyover party lines. They were in highspirits when they returned to HanedaAirport. Feeling that this was bignews, they invited a press conferenceand found that only representative ofthe press, the Asahi Newspaperattended. "There were four of us andonly one of them. It was sure a letdown. We looked in the next day'snewspaper, and there was only asmall article!" laughed Matsumae.There was such a time.

In the same year, in the final days ofNovember, the Ginkgo trees aroundthe Diet Building were shedding theiryellow leaves. I, who was gazing atthis sight, received the summons ofChairman Kodo Ito to "go to Arisawawith Secretary Asanuma to askArisawa to be a Commissioner of theAtomic Energy Commission (AEC). Ihave already talked with him about


it." I was to meet them at Jinbocho inKanda.

Kazuhisa Mori (Now ViceChairman of the Japan AtomicIndustrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF)) wrotesomewhere that Arisawa told him thatthe place was the cafe, but in mymemory, it was the second floor of asoba noodle restaurant or a eatinghouse, sort of like a meal ticket cafete-ria during the war. It was on the lefthand side of an alley on the left on theway to Suidobashi from the Jinbochointersection. Yoshio Fujioka, Professorof Tokyo University of Education,who also became a member of theAEC, said that he had heard that itwas a restaurant in Ginza. Althoughthe place does not really matter, I men-tion this because I believe history mustbe clearly recorded.

Numa-san (a nickname forAsanuma) perspired heavily. Wipinghis flowing perspiration, he camecloser with his large body and urgedus in a straightforward fashion, "Ihave received the promise of Shoriki(Minister of State). Those who are rec-ommended by the Socialist Party willnaturally be the AEC Commissioners.Please accept the position." Arisawacontinued to smile but said, "I don'tknow anything about nuclear energy.I refuse." He was quite obstinate.They argue back and forth for a while."You would be the guard of peacefuluses," says Numa-san, and Arisawa,seemingly losing to Numa-san'sdetermination, closed with "I will askthe opinion of Tadao Yanaihara thePresident of the University of Tokyo."I felt again at that time how uprightNuma-san was. I still clearly remem-ber the feel of Numa-san shaking myhand strongly and saying, "Goto, I amglad, yes, so glad," as if Arisawa hadalready accepted the position.

"President Yanaihara's reactionwas, 'Hmmm.' Finally, he said, 'Youshould do it. Because securing peace-

ful uses is extremely important.However, I have one demand. Thisnuclear energy development willbecome a large scale development. Itwill become "Big Science," in otherwords, so there will be a lot of moneyinvolved. I would be troubled if youtouched the university with thismoney.'" (Economists under theEnergy Reformation - Arisawa,Wakimura Interview, The EconomistMagazine)

On December 14, 1955, the ThreeLaws of Nuclear Energy were passedthrough the House of Representatives.Arisawa became a Commissioner ofthe AEC established in January of thenext year. The Socialist Party, whichhad recommended him, was in theforefront of nuclear energy for peace-ful uses for the next several decades.We cannot forget that in the back-ground to this were various knowl-edgeable individuals who had beeninvolved in the Proletarian Partybefore the war, who understood thenuclear energy policy and supportedthe Socialist Party.

Many of those individuals whowere oppressed during the warbecame Diet members, or went backto the universities to step onto theprofessorial pulpit. They poured theirabundant experience and learninginto the policies and ideology of theSocialist Party. However, these out-standing intellects were lost from theSocialist Party with the death of theindividuals. This loss is conspicuousespecially in energy policy and thenuclear energy issue.

"I was the one that drafted theAtomic Energy Basic Law, a legisla-tion introduced by Diet members.(Essay "Politics and Science")

It seems like yesterday that we satlate into the night in Matsumae'ssmall room in the Diet Members'Building, intensively considering anddrafting the Basic Law. We used to

check the details with the ScienceCouncil of Japan, which was locatedin the Ueno Park at that time. "Theresearch, development and utilizationof atomic energy shall be limited topeaceful purposes, aimed at ensuringsafety and performed independentlyunder democratic management, theresults therefrom shall be made publicto contribute to international coopera-tion." I heard again from the lips offormer Prime Minister Nakasone thatthe second article was "made byMatsumae." Not many people nowknow that the Atomic Energy BasicLaw was a legislation made by dietmembers, but the document nowgives me a secret joy.

"Within the Socialist Party PolicyMaking Advisory Board, there wasShigeru Goto, an up and coming poli-cy man. He was an extremely fastlearner and a hard worker. GainingGoto, whom I feel to be my favoritepupil, I quickly went about makingparty policy. ...Goto, with his sharpsensitivity, showed a strong interest inscience and technology. For the vari-ous research of the research institute,Goto was always by my side. He wasreally a wonderful assistant. (Letterfrom Matsumae)

When I became a member of theHouse of Representatives, I receivedthis letter of encouragement fromMatsumae, who had by then retiredfrom the world of politics, and work-ing in the educational field asPresident of Tokai University. I aman unworthy pupil who could not liveup to his expectations. The abovewords make me go into cold sweat.That is why I have kept them safelyaway until now. However, because Ibelieve that they are a preciousproverb to me, I ask that you forgiveme for putting them down here in thisnote.

Former Member of theHouse of Representatives( )

The terrorist attack on September 11last year made us rethink what is necessaryfor national defense in an age when aircraftdevelopment has made it possible for us tomove around the globe. The abolition ofterrorist organizations is an issue that wemust deal with for the sake of the humanrace in the 21st Century. However, at thesame time, there will be no absolute solu-tion to the terrorist issue if countries andpeoples cannot stop fighting and quarrelingwith each other.

I believe that the only basis for apeaceful society without dread of terror-

ism is a world where people can coexistin mutual prosperity. For this to emerge,peaceful diplomacy, including economicsupport, must penetrate every corner ofthe globe.

It is often said that the short-time devel-opment of transportation and communica-tion methods have prevented big wars anddisputes since the end of World War II.However, there are still countries in whichthese methods cannot be used freely, orhave been banned. The internationalizationof such countries is also an issue for thehuman race in the 21st Century.

In order to push forward the peacefuluses of nuclear energy as a solution to thecompatibility of sustained development andenvironmental protection, the Council forNuclear Fuel Cycle will strive to obtain theunderstanding of people within Japan andoverseas by continuing to actively offerinformation on the peaceful uses of nuclearenergy and the abolition of nuclearweapons. In addition, we will continue towork toward coexistence and mutual pros-perity through communication with a varietyof peoples. We again ask for your under-standing and cooperation in the new year.

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