'Plutonium-only' nuclear energy policy must be abandoned: Akahata

On the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) decision to delay the introduction of the plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture and its Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant, Akahata's editorial on April 18 demanded that the government review the dangerous plutonium cycle system. It said:

TEPCO planned to use MOX fuel, the use of a composite fuel made of plutonium extracted from spent fuel and uranium in a nuclear power plant from April, but delayed the implementation of the plan due to strong opposition from local residents. This shows that the Japanese people are demanding that the government review its nuclear energy policy centering on the plutonium cycle system.

Japan's "nuclear fuel cycle" policy is dangerous because it needs a large amount of highly radioactive weapons-grade plutonium which can readily be diverted to nuclear weapons and has many unsolved technical problems. Once an accident happens at a nuclear power plant, it could cause catastrophic damage.

No safe method has been established for the disposal of plutonium and high-level nuclear wastes stored after reprocessing spent fuel. Britain, the U.S., Germany, and France have already abandoned this problematic system.

In Japan, nuclear energy facilities still operate under the plutonium cycle system and serious accidents have occurred in some of them. But the government is not willing to give up the system, stating that pluthermal is the major pillar of the nuclear fuel cycle policy.

Neither the government nor electric power companies have proved its safety in test reactors. The Nuclear Safety Commission has failed to conduct sufficient inspections to prove it safe. This naturally causes growing concern among the public. In a public opinion survey in February, 83 percent of the respondents said they are concerned about the present policy of promoting nuclear power generation.

Also in the survey, many respondents preferred renewable energy such as solar and wind power to atomic energy and oil, as alternative energy sources. They are calling for a review of the dangerous plutonium cycle system and the establishment of a new energy policy in the 21st century.

The Japanese Communist Party requests that the present wasteful ways of producing and consuming energy be reviewed, that effective ways of using energy and renewable energies be developed, and that nuclear power plants be closed one by one. (end)