March 24, 2013

It has come to light that Japan has a total of 44 tons of plutonium in and outside of the country, the largest amount among non-nuclear nations.

The Cabinet Office made it public on March 22 in response to questioning by Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Shiokawa Tetsuya.

In his question session in a Lower House economy and industry committee meeting, Shiokawa said that plutonium can be used to make nuclear weapons. He pointed out that stockpiling such materials causes international concern.

The parliamentarian noted that almost all nuclear reactors in the nation have been halted since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and that the government-supported MOX fuel project also remains at a standstill. “While possessing lots of plutonium, the administration fails to show a plan to use the materials. It is a departure from the government’s nuclear fuel cycle policy of ‘not possessing excess plutonium’,” he said.

Economy Minister Motegi Toshimitsu said that the MOX project is essential for the effective use of plutonium, and that the government will “push ahead with the project steadily.”

Mentioning that the U.K. has shut down its spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, Shiokawa stressed that the world trend is towards withdrawing from the nuclear fuel recycling program. He argued that the administration should break away from its nuclear power policy and abandon its plutonium-thermal project.