Nuclear Reactions 

PROPOSAL: 

To construct two 1,300 megawatt reactors in Ashihama, a scenic coastal area 
in Mie prefecture, central Japan, as first proposed in 1963. 

REASONS: 

With almost no natural energy resources, Japan relies on atomic power to 
supply 30% of its electricity and it wants to increase this amount by 
building 20 new plants by 2010. 

SETBACKS: 

Less than six months after the country's worst nuclear accident; underlines 
the growing hostility to atomic energy in Japan and raises questions about 
the government's ambitious atomic energy program as a result of a series of 
high-profile accidents and cover-ups in recent years. 

Abandoned by the prefecture's governor, Masayasu Kitagawa, the first 
politician of his rank to order the abandonment of a nuclear project. His 
decision was prompted by the growing concerns about nuclear safety in the 
wake of the uncontrolled nuclear fission at a uranium processing plant in 
Tokaimura last September: one man died and more than 400 people were exposed 
to radiation following the accident, which occurred when plant workers mixed 
seven times the safe amount of uranium in a bucket. It has since emerged 
that they were following an illegal manual and that the plant was rarely 
inspected by the authorities. 

Anti-nuclear campaigners have been elected mayors in some towns and four 
years ago, the community of Maki in northern Japan rejected plans for a 
nuclear plant in a referendum. 

DECISION: 

Rejected. 

RESULTS: 

The decision has sent shock waves through Japan's nuclear industry, as 
prefectural governors have tended to side with the powerful utilities which 
bring jobs and tax revenue, rather than residents. 

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

It should go back to the drawing board. Look for an alternative site. 
The dropping of the H-bomb on Japan. 
Jean Wilson 
 

For: 
- The Japanese refused to surrender. 
- The kamikaze tactics exhibited an amount of reverent insanity that began to 
take its toll on American forces. 
- The power of the bomb had to be determined and the exact effects 
afterwards. 
Against: 
- Innocent people killed in large numbers. 
- Other tactics could have been used to force Japan’s surrender. 
- The power of the bomb unknown, the exact damage it could do as far as 
radiation, etc., unimagined.