JCP opposes restart of operations at unsafe fast-breeder plant Monju

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP opposes restart of operations at unsafe fast-breeder plant Monju

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency on May 6 resumed operations at Monju, Japan’s first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga (Fukui Pref.) after it was suspended due to a sodium coolant leak and a subsequent fire in 1995.

Yoshii Hidekatsu, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member, severely criticized the resuming of operations, stating:

“I examined the site immediately after the 1995 sodium leak and fire accident. The obvious disregard for safety by the JAEA (previously named Donen) and their falsification of the videotapes of the accident convinced me that their mistaken belief in the “safety myths” was a major cause of the accident.

A fast-breeder nuclear reactor involves two major technical difficulties in that it uses plutonium which has a high chemical toxicity and high-level radioactivity and sodium which reacts intensely and unpredictably to water and air. Compared to the existing type of light-water reactors, fast-breeder reactors are more costly to construct, to fuel, and to operate and maintain, and therefore they will not be profitable if commercialized.

However, the government stands for promoting the policy of reusing plutonium extracted from the fuel used at nuclear reactors, just as the preceding Liberal Democratic-Komei government,

Today, Japan has stored weapons-grade plutonium equivalent to 5,000 atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki, arousing international distrust. To make up for the trouble-ridden prototype fast-breeder reactor, the government is imposing a pluthermal formula in which plutonium is used for light-water reactors instead.

The government is attempting to increase Japan’s dependence on nuclear power generation under the pretext of a need to stop global warming; however, an accident at a nuclear power plant would cause the most serious environmental contamination. It is confirmed that if operations at a nuclear reactor are suspended due to an accident caused by an earthquake such as that which occurred in the sea off Niigata, the need for increased thermal power generation would emit a massive amount of carbon dioxide.

Monju, one of the pillars of the government policy of promoting utilization of the nuclear fuel cycle, is a failure in regard to safety concerns as well as in economic terms. The JCP is firmly opposed to its restarting operations.”

The government has spent 900 billion yen to construct and operate Monju.

However, the United States and many European countries, which had been ahead of Japan in the development of fast-breeder reactor technology, had already withdrawn from its use due to not only cost but to safety concerns.

It is extraordinary that Japan insists on restarting operations after having been shut down for over 14 years.

-Akahata, May 7, 2010