Selling nukes abroad: What about business ethics?

November 6, 2013

EDITORIAL: Abe ignoring risks in exporting nuclear reactors

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201311060063

The Japanese government is intent on exporting nuclear reactors to developing countries.

During his trip to Turkey in late October, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured a contract between Ankara and a Japanese consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to construct nuclear reactors in the northern part of the country.

But radiation-contaminated water is still leaking from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. With decontamination work running behind schedule, the situation is anything but under control.

Fukushima evacuees, who still have no idea when or if their lives will ever return to normal, are naturally upset by the export of nuclear reactors when their welfare is being sacrificed.

The Abe administration continues to remain vague about its energy policy, even though many people are vociferously calling for an end to nuclear power generation. The administration now seems to be telling the rest of the world that dealing with the Fukushima disaster has helped improve Japan’s nuclear technology.

This is just wrong.

At a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abe declared, “Japan has a responsibility to share the lessons of the Fukushima nuclear disaster with the rest of the world and to promote nuclear safety.”

Sharing the lessons is fine. But in reality, Japan’s sloppy response to the nuclear crisis has only aroused the mistrust of the international community.

Experts have yet to accurately assess the extent of damage at the Fukushima No. 1 plant caused by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake before the tsunami arrived.

How could the government confidently assure the safety of the reactors being exported to Turkey, one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world?

Another concern is responsibility for compensation in the event of an accident involving exported nuclear facilities.

In the United States, Southern California Edison says it has lost billions of dollars from having to permanently shut down a nuclear power plant in California due to radiation leaks caused by steam generators built by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group.

The utility is demanding that the group pay damages exceeding the limit of liability specified in the contract.

The days are over for plant manufacturers taking no responsibility for post-delivery problems. Abe’s “sales pitch” to the Turkish government may well be understood as the Japanese government’s guarantee to pay damages in the event of a major accident at the Turkish plant.

Developing nations are politically unstable to varying degrees. We have to wonder if our government has seriously considered the risks of nuclear terrorism and the possibility of nuclear substances being used to build nuclear weapons.

During the joint news conference, Prime Minister Erdogan said to the effect that people cannot stop using cars or airplanes to avoid an accident.

But the Fukushima disaster has made it all too obvious that the dangers of a nuclear plant cannot possibly be compared with those for a car or a plane.

The difficulties of maintaining nuclear power generation in an earthquake-prone country have become amply clear through discussions on active faults and the process of drawing up evacuation plans for broad areas.

And there is yet no answer to the question of how to dispose of spent nuclear fuel.

The Abe administration has positioned nuclear reactor exports as a principal pillar of its economic growth strategy. But the drive to sell them abroad in disregard of all the unresolved problems flies in the face of business ethics.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 1