Nuclear Power after 3.11: Have We Learned the Right Lessons?

Nuclear Power after 3.11: Have We Learned the 'Right' Lessons?

Date

October 9 (Thursday)

Time

15:30 - 18:30

Venue

Fukutake Hall
http://fukutake.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/english/access.html

Keynote Speaker

• Dr. Charles Casto, (Former NRC Administrator and US Government Liaison during the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis)

Panelists

• Kurwokawa, Kyoshi

Former Chairman, National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC); Academic Fellow, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Chairman, Health and Global Policy Institute

• Yoichi Funabashi, Yoichi

Chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation
Program Director of the “Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident”

• Suzuki Tatsujiro

Former Vice chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC); member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs in Japan

• Fukuyama, Tetsuro

DPJ Next Minister for Foreign Affairs and Former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary

Organizers

• Sakura, Osamu

Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Professor

• Kyle Cleveland

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (Associate Director), Temple University Japan (http://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/the-institute/)

Abstract

The Fukushima nuclear accident has provoked ongoing debate about the viability of nuclear energy in the aftermath of a disaster that has resulted in a crisis of institutional authority and questions about the safety of nuclear energy in Japan. Although Japan had long been admired for its efficiency and highly regulated organizational structures, when tested by the unprecedented natural disasters of the earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster, the ensuing chaos and lack of coordination between government institutions and nuclear utilities in the crisis management has resulted in a loss of faith by the Japanese public and widespread concern about the safety of nuclear energy. Moreover, with an aging fleet of nuclear reactors sited in one of the most seismically active countries in the world, and with a newly conceived regulatory structure that continues to negotiate technological change, industry reform and seek public support, the future of nuclear energy in Japan remains uncertain.

This symposium brings together government and nuclear authorities who were intimately involved in handling the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and scholars who have carefully analyzed the disaster to discuss the “lessons learned” from this experience, its social and political implications, and whether or not there is place for nuclear energy in Japan in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.