Chubu Electric Power Co. should shut down its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. Its security standards no longer hold water, and I want Japan to become a country that can steadily overcome anticipated crises. This is the conclusion I reached after speaking with government officials in Tokyo following a brief tour of the Sanriku and Fukushima districts.
It was former Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato, 71, who first turned my attention toward the Hamaoka plant. When I met Sato in the Fukushima Prefecture city of Koriyama, I inquired about the nuclear crisis.
"Do you think this region is paying the price for the prosperity of the Tokyo metropolitan area?" I asked.
Without answering the question, he replied, "Rather than all that, it's Hamaoka we're worried about. The earthquakes anticipated in the Tokai region and Tokyo still haven't come, right?"
Sato served as governor for 18 years, stepping down during his fifth term before being arrested and charged in a bribery case that he is still battling. Initially, he was on good terms with the central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., but he later emerged as an opponent of nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, instead of focusing on grudges during our meeting, he pointed the finger at the inattentiveness of the capital region.
The Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant is located in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture. The dangers associated with the plant are common knowledge among nuclear power plant opponents. Two of the three reactors in operation are boiling-water reactors -- the same type as those at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. But the real point of concern is the fact that they sit right above the spot where a massive Tokai region earthquake is predicted to strike.
Katsuhiko Ishibashi, 66, an emeritus professor at Kobe University who coined the phrase "genpatsu shinsai," which describes a combined earthquake and nuclear power plant disaster, has previously pointed out the plant's precarious standing. In the May 2011 editions of the monthly magazines "Sekai" and "Chuokoron," he warned there would be severe consequences if a major earthquake were to strike the Hamaoka plant.
"In a worst-case scenario ... a radiation cloud would drift over the Tokyo metropolitan area, and over 10 million people would have to evacuate. Japan would lose its capital." "The U.S. military bases at Yokota, Yokosuka, Atsugi and Zama would not be able to function, producing a large global military imbalance," he reportedly told the magazines.
Last week I realized that such views were not restricted to educated nuclear power plant opponents. One of my old acquaintances, a government official who has hammered out new growth strategies for the Cabinet including the building of nuclear power plants overseas, shares concerns about the Hamaoka plant.
"We have to stop Hamaoka. Could you write about this in the paper?" my acquaintance asked. "This plant must be stopped for the very sake of retaining our other nuclear power plants -- but not too many people lend their ears to such ideas."
In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Chubu Electric Power Co. announced that it would delay the construction of new reactors at the Hamaoka plant, but the reactors now in operation have been kept running. The power company, which worries about the cost of securing an alternative source of power, does not consider stopping the reactors an option.
If this is the case, then the central government should step in to bring the situation under control by halting the operation of the Hamaoka plant, which has become a realistic threat. The government shouldn't be concerned about companies' gains or losses or temporary economic confusion. But this hasn't happened: Nuclear power plant safety checks performed under the government's supervision are superficial and perfunctory.
It seems the administration of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has performed miserably in its handling of the current crisis. But I doubt that the opposition Liberal Democratic Party could have brought the situation under control either. This was an unprecedented disaster, and there is no telling when the situation will settle.
There is no assurance that a massive earthquake and tsunami on the scale of the March 11 disaster will not occur again sometime within the next 1,000 years. Activity producing changes in the earth's crust seems to be becoming more active around the Japanese archipelago. At the same time, Japan's task of maintaining its energy-intensive economic society, which places top priority on gross domestic product, will likely prove impossible.
Now at the Prime Minister's Office, experts are assembling for discussion stemming from comments like, "Civilization is facing questions." To me, this seems a rather carefree approach.
The danger has not passed. Naturally the crisis at the Fukushima plant must be brought under control, but the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, which is dangerous by anyone's reckoning, must also be shut down.
Surely the first step is to clarify the nation's resolve to bring its nuclear power plant-driven society under full control. (By Takao Yamada, Expert Senior Writer)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 18, 2011
風知草：浜岡原発を止めよ＝山田孝男
中部電力の浜岡原子力発電所を止めてもらいたい。安全基準の前提が崩れた以上、予見される危機を着実に制御する日本であるために。急ぎ足ながら三陸と福島を回り、帰京後、政府関係者に取材を試みて、筆者はそう考えるに至った。
福島に入った私の目を浜岡へ向かわせたのは佐藤栄佐久・前福島県知事（７１）だった。郡山に佐藤を訪ねて「首都圏の繁栄の犠牲になったと思うか」と聞いたとき、前知事はそれには答えず、こう反問した。
「それよりネ、私どもが心配しているのは浜岡ですから。東海地方も、東京も、まだ地震が来てないでしょ？」
５期１８年（５期目半ばで辞任後、収賄で逮捕・起訴。１、２審とも有罪で上告中）。国・東京電力との蜜月を経て原発批判に転じた佐藤が、恨み節を語る代わりに首都圏の油断を指摘してみせたのである。
浜岡原発は静岡県御前崎市にある。その危うさは反原発派の間では常識に属する。運転中の３基のうち二つは福島と同じ沸騰水型で海岸低地に立つ。それより何より、東海地震の予想震源域の真上にある。
「原発震災」なる言葉を生み出し、かねて警鐘を鳴らしてきた地震学者の石橋克彦神戸大名誉教授（６６）は、月刊誌の最新号で、浜岡震災の帰結についてこう予測している。
「最悪の場合、（中略）放射能雲が首都圏に流れ、一千万人以上が避難しなければならない。日本は首都を喪失する」「在日米軍の横田・横須賀・厚木・座間などの基地も機能を失い、国際的に大きな軍事的不均衡が生じる……」（「世界」と「中央公論」の各５月号）
これが反原発派知識人の懸念にとどまらないことを筆者は先週、思い知った。旧知の政府関係者から「浜岡は止めなくちゃダメだ。新聞で書いてくれませんか」と声をかけられたのである。原発輸出を含む新成長戦略を打ち出した内閣のブレーンのひとりが、浜岡に限っては反原発派と不安を共有し、「原発を維持するためにこそ止めるべきなのに、聞く耳をもつ人間が少ない」と慨嘆した。
福島のあおりで中部電力は浜岡原発の新炉増設の着工延期を発表したが、稼働中の原子炉は止まらない。代替供給源確保のコストを案じる中電の視野に休止はない。ならば国が、企業の損得や経済の一時的混乱を度外視し、現実の脅威となった浜岡原発を止めてコントロールしなければならないはずだが、政府主導の原発安全点検は表層的でおざなりである。
なるほど民主党政権は無残だが、自民党ならみごと制御できたとも思わない。空前の大災害であり、しかもなお収束のめどが立っていない。
向こう１０００年、３・１１ほどの大地震や津波がこないとは言えないだろう。列島周辺の地殻変動はますます活発化しているように見える。そういうなかでＧＤＰ（国内総生産）至上主義のエネルギー多消費型経済社会を維持できるかと言えば、まず不可能だろう。
いま、首相官邸にはあまたの知識人が参集し、「文明が問われている」というようなことが議論されている。ずいぶんのんきな話だと思う。
危機は去っていない。福島の制御は当然として、もはやだれが見ても危険な浜岡原発を止めなければならない。原発社会全体をコントロールするという国家意思を明確にすることが先ではないか。（敬称略）（毎週月曜日掲載）
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