Anti-nuclear critics have fiercely opposed Japan's
move to allow its companies to export nuclear equipment and
technology abroad, in the wake of the nation's worst-ever atomic
accident.
Masashi Goto, a former nuclear reactor designer, says that the
fact that the very country which caused the disaster is trying to
export atomic technology would be "absolute folly."
But Japan's bilateral civil nuclear cooperation accords with
Jordan, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam are expected to take effect
this month as parliament deliberations on the pacts started
Wednesday.
The pacts, which lay the legal foundations for Japanese companies
to supply nuclear equipment and technology to other countries, were
likely to be approved by the House of Representatives on Friday,
Kyodo News reported.
On Wednesday, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which
controls the upper house with smaller opposition parties, essentially
agreed to support the pacts.
Critics argue that the Japanese government is making hasty
decisions under growing pressure from abroad and from corporations.
In Jordan, a consortium of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd
and French nuclear power company Areva is competing with Russian and
Canadian companies for nuclear power contracts.
Jordan has called on Tokyo to ratify a bilateral nuclear
cooperation accord by the year-end, cautioning that without it, the
consortium could lose its chance of winning a bid to build a nuclear
power plant there, Kyodo reported, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
Kanna Mitsuta, a Friends of the Earth (FoE) Japan researcher, also
points out that Japanese companies are apparently eager to promote
overseas sales of nuclear technology as their business prospects in
Japan are grim in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station.
After the plant was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a
series of explosions and fires triggered the massive release of
radioactive material. Its three reactors suffered meltdowns. Tens of
thousands of local residents have been forced to leave the area.
Only 10 of the nation's 54 reactors remain in operation due to
public fears over the safety of nuclear power.
On Wednesday, Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato told the government
and operator Tokyo Electric Power Co to decommission all 10 of the
prefecture's reactors.
Goto argues in a statement that the government and Tokyo Electric
have yet to bring the damaged plant under control and "have not
grasped definite causes of the accident, either."
"It is impossible to rule out the possibility that the Fukushima
nuclear disaster was involved in not only the earthquake and tsunami
but also operational problems, equipment failures and serious design
flaws," he says.
In a statement, Japan's civic groups and NGOs including FoE Japan
have urged Japan to "immediately abandon its policy of promoting
exports of nuclear power plants."
They also told the government to "take the lead in realizing a
worldwide phase out of nuclear power."
