I Want For You To Know What Kind Of Thing A Genpatsu (Nuclear Power Plant) Is - Parts XIV ~ XVI

By: Norio Hirai（平井 憲夫）

1996

XIV. Has Japanese Plutonium Contributed To The French Nuclear Programme?

We commissioned the French to deal with sampling plutonium rods. Plutonium rods are artificially made with the fission reactors, which are powered by uranium fuel.  

Approximately 1.4 tons of plutonium are used. Approximately 8 kilos of this was used in the atom bomb for Nagasaki so the question is how deadly is 1.4 tons of plutonium. However small the amount this is a substance that kills. Its isotope has a half-life of 24 thousand years so it will continue to emit radiation. Just like Pluto “The Fallen King of Hell,” Plutonium is the most dangerous substance in the world.

Last year (1995) when the French, as part of their atomic testing, used our plutonium in the South Pacific. Hardly no one knew of its capabilities. In French factories, there is no distinction between manufacturing plutonium for weapons or for power plants. Hence it is obvious that our nuclear rods were used for testing purposes.

This is the reason Japan couldn’t oppose it. Ironically if we wanted the French government to stop, then it would have been easy for us. All we had to do was tell the French to stop dealing with our rods and cancel the contract but we didn’t.

The profits from the trade of plutonium rods between Japan and France is the second highest. The general public has no knowledge of this so it is pointless to merely shout you are against nuclear testing. It is hypocritical to say that they were the victims of radiation sickness post Hiroshima. That is because it’s the Japanese plutonium rods that damaged the South Pacific Sea and adversely affected the people of Tahiti.

The rest of the world may have given up on this, but Japan still feels the need to produce electricity using genpatsus. They are generally run by a fuel source that mixes uranium and plutonium (MOX), which is heated. This is extremely dangerous! Simply put, this is like putting gasoline in a kerosene heater. Genpatsus were not originally designed to accommodate the use of plutonium. Plutonium fission is incomparable to uranium. This is why it is used in nuclear weapons.

Just because we don’t have natural resources to extract, is this not cruel? Unless we stop using plutonium now, cases of radiation sickness will become commonplace.

XV. The Japanese Are Not Brave Enough

The days of relying on nuclear power are numbered, internationally at least. In February 1996 the Americans announced they would reduce half of their nuclear power stations by 2015. President Clinton ordered scientists to stop researching plutonium, an admirable move considering how scary it can be.

The British and the Germans, like the Americans, also stopped relying on nuclear plants that used fast breeder reactors like the one used in Monju. The Germans went as far as building a theme park on its suspension. I’m sure the government will admit that they failed but they are still adamant that they will continue with it.

This is primarily because the Japanese do not have the courage to abandon their plans, and this is a frightening thought for everyone. They will bank on the fact that things will eventually turn out fine, that is just irresponsible. This has been their thought process for decades. Even when it comes to measures on dealing with nuclear waste management, the Japanese government is clueless.

The other problem is the lack of young people with degrees in nuclear engineering. There used to be a lot of youngsters but nowadays it is a rarity, even for a prestigious institution such as Tokyo University. There are no students putting the hours into researching the pros and cons of nuclear power.

Even companies such as Hitachi and Toshiba lost a third of their employees who were nuclear experts. They ended up working as specialists in gas turbine cogeneration projects. Manufacturers such as these agree on this issue.

The former head of nuclear power, Mr. Takehisa Shimamura on resignation released a book called “A Sermon On Genpatsu”. This is what he states, “The only thing the Japanese government are trying to do is to not contradict what they say. It’s not a question of a lack of electricity or whatever. We’ve become too over reliant on plutonium and we aren’t bold enough to say no. The rest of the world is anxious because they believe that we have the capacity to build weapons. In spite of this they rely on this source of energy merely to allay their fears and to reassure them that it is only used for peaceful purposes.” This in a nutshell sums up the Japanese government’s stance.

XVI. Reactors That Cannot Be Dismantled

In 1966, the British exported a commercial reactor of 160,000 kilowatts to the village of Toukai in Ibaragi prefecture. The Americans then brought their nuclear plants to Japan and we began building our own. Nowadays there are 51 plants in operation for such a small island as Japan.

We did not think as far as dismantling reactors or waste management yet we started operating nuclear plants. Even reactors made from the thickest steel starts crumbling to pieces when exposed to radiation. Due to this there was supposedly a ten-year plan to take apart the nuclear reactor as its lifespan was just that, ten years. In 1981 however we discovered that this was not possible for the first reactor at the Fukushima plant. Even parliament agreed that the reactors were vulnerable to a reaction.

In theory you can come up with as many solutions as possible but in reality you have to put that into action. The people who have to do that are the workers at the plant and when something goes wrong they are the ones at risk of radiation sickness. Unless there is no radiation then we cannot do anything. Whilst the reactors are producing radioactivity a dismantling operation is impossible. So if it is impossible to do with manpower, why not look into robotics? There is research on the topic but the robots utilized have gone haywire due to exposure.

The American manufacturers who sold their plants to us sent their workers over to fix the reactors, as we could not decommission them. As a result they were exposed to radiation. These plants are still in operation.

The plants that were originally deemed to have a shelf life of ten years are now in operation for nearly thirty. Despite being old and decrepit, they are still in commission and this is what worries me.

The test reactor in Tokyo City University (formerly Musashi College of Technology) in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture only runs at 100 kilowatts  but even they have problems of radioactive leaks. In theory it would cost approximately 2 billion yen to repair and 6 billion yen to decommission. Even if you threw the university’s entire annual budget towards it, it’s impossible to do both. All you can do is suspend its operation and ensure that it does not produce any more radiation.

If we are to do this for a plant that runs on an almighty 100 kilowatts then it is pretty astonishing.

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