Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Is Nuclear Fuel Cycle absolutely necessary?
Isn't there any other energy alternative to nuclear power?
To find that out, we visited a nuclear scientist at Tokyo University.
Professor Haruki Madarame is a member of Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan which decides the national nuclear policy.
In engineering, there are things you don't understand but still have to try anyway.
If you notice the slightest sign that things might go wrong, only then you stop and do something about it.
You fearfully grope your way.
Q: Is the same true with nuclear power?
Yes, absolutely.
For example, when we designed a nuclear power plant, we didn't know what "stress corrosion cracks (SCC)" were.
But there were lots of other things we didn't understand at the time, so we set a sort of "safety margin" and went forward.
Very large safety margin with the hope that it would absorb upcoming troubles.
Then the SCC problem arose.
But after checking the problem, we found it was within that safety margin.
We were fortunate. And this good fortune has continued to this day.
You might ask, "what if it hadn't been OK?" Then nuclear power plants would stop.
You will never feel safe about nuclear energy.
The best I hope is you trust it.
There is no way you feel safe about something that can be used as a weapon.
Q: Even though final disposal of nuclear waste is technically feasible, if we cannot find a place willing to accept such a facility,...
If not, we're in trouble now.
Q: In France and in the UK there isn't any.
No, there isn't.
Q: Isn't that a big problem?
Well, basically, if we follow the current policy, no matter if the policy is right or wrong, I think there will be a solution.
For in the end, final disposal issue is all about money, isn't it?
If nobody is willing to accept the facility, then we will simply offer twice the amount of money that we had promised before.
Or fivefold, or tenfold.
Somewhere down the line, somebody will accept.
Q: You mean economical incentive...
Disposal cost won't be much, so perhaps it shouldn't be a problem.
Q: Right now if a municipality simply agrees to let the soil boring test be done on its land...
It will be given huge money.
Q: I hear it's 2 billion yen.
But I hear that 2 billion won't be much in the world of nuclear power.
Q: Really?
So nuclear power must be extremely profitable, I assume.
Of course it is! If a nuclear power plant is stopped for one day, the loss would be no less than 100 million yen.
So, the US doesn't have the slightest intention of shutting down existing nuclear power plants,
and neither do the Japanese electric companies.
The bottom line is that they want to use what they have as much as they can.
What we should ultimately do with ever-increasing nuclear waste
and how we can store it for a million years
has not been decided yet in any places in the world.