KITA-KYUSHU -- The Atomic Energy Society of Japan, a nongovernmental organization that promotes nuclear power, finally got around Sept. 19 to asking hard questions posed by the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
KITA-KYUSHU -- The Atomic Energy Society of Japan, a nongovernmental organization that promotes nuclear power, finally got around Sept. 19 to asking hard questions posed by the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Specifically, members wanted to know why Japan was so blind to the dangers of nuclear power, given this nation's history of earthquakes and tsunami, and whether the crisis could have been avoided.
The society kicked off a four-day conference in this southwestern city, its first since the crisis flared after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, to address what went wrong and why. The first day was devoted to a special symposium on the Fukushima disaster, where experts expressed remorse for being unable to prevent the crisis from happening.
The society has a membership of about 7,000, many of whom are affiliated with universities and electric power companies.
The four-day-long meeting is open to nonmembers, but advance registration is required. Nonmembers accounted for 60 of about 500 meeting participants.
Satoru Tanaka, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tokyo and president of the Atomic Energy Society, opened the symposium by remarking: "Many people from neighboring regions are still living as evacuees, and I express deep regret on behalf of the society."
Hisashi Ninokata, a professor of nuclear engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, said: "We were overconfident. We believed we would be safe even if an accident occurred. We have to face this fact squarely and elucidate its causes thoroughly."
Hiroshi Miyano, a visiting professor at Hosei University, pointed to a blind belief in the safety of nuclear power plants by noting that even minor incidents rarely led to facilities being shut down for safety checks.
"We have been evading earnest efforts to ensure that nuclear power generation is safe," he said.
Part of the symposium was devoted to a panel discussion themed on "What the Atomic Energy Society can do and should do in the face of the Fukushima accident."
"It is said that the public does not place any faith in the society," said Itsumasa Urabe, a professor of radiation protection at Fukuyama University.
"A major lesson is that constant improvements are necessary, and that any lapse in that regard leads to contentment with the status quo," said Koji Okamoto, a professor of visualization at the University of Tokyo, another panelist.