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2011 November 30 - December 6 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Union wages campaign against LWR and N-submarines

Overcome discrimination and oppression (Part 7)

In June 1956, the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), currently the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, was established to promote research on atomic power generation in Japan. With this establishment, the struggle started between the government pushing ahead with its reckless nuclear policy and JAERI researchers considering how to use nuclear power in a way that is beneficial to the general public.

An 82 year-old former researcher and trade union chair at JAERI, Ichikawa Fujio, said, “Researchers’ wages were very low and working conditions were poor. There was no running water in the institute’s dormitory so wooden buckets were used to store drinking water. The union worked to deal with these problems, calling for assuring safety and a peaceful use of nuclear energy based on the three principles of democracy, independence, and transparency.”

Stepping on the tiger’s tail

In the 1960s, Japan imported a light-water reactor called the Japan Power Demonstration Reactor (JPDR), manufactured by the U.S. General Electric Company. Reactors of this type were later introduced across Japan. While U.S. researchers claimed that the JPDR was a tried-and-true reactor, JAERI researchers and their union pointed out that the reactor caused many accidents and that its technology was not fully developed.

Tateno Jun, former professor at Chuo University and one-time union chair at JAERI, said, “At the time, the United States aimed to sell the light-water reactor to Japan under its global strategy of dominance. So people around me said, ‘JAERI researchers are stepping on the tiger’s tail’ by pointing out the JPDR’s technical deficiencies.”

In October 1963, three days after the JPDR succeeded in generating power, General Electric suddenly ordered the JAERI to halt its operation, asserting that the labor-management at the research institute was inappropriate.

After GE’s halt to operations, the strife between the JAERI and its trade union became increasingly bitter. Sato Eisaku, the then director-general of the Science and Technology Agency, instructed the JAERI to improve the management. The JAERI then set up a labor management division at its head office and launched a concerted campaign to discredit the researchers and the trade union.

Sending lecturers across the country

The JAERI harassed union leaders and discriminated against them in regard to working conditions, wages, and promotions. In 1964, the magazine “Zenbo,” which was closely connected to the security police, carried a feature under the title of “Communists at the JAERI.” In the Diet, Liberal Democratic Party representatives attacked the trade union, saying, “We can name 20 Japanese Communist Party members in the Institute.”

In 1963, a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine tried to call at a Japanese port and this caused grave concern among the general public. In the late 1960s, construction of light-water reactors by Japanese electric companies emerged as a social issue across the nation. The JAERI union conducted a campaign to send its members throughout Japan to give a lecture on the dangers of nuclear submarines and nuclear reactors. The union members warned against light-water reactors and immensely contributed to increasing local residents’ movement against them.

“As a researcher, I wanted to share with the public the research on atomic reactors,” said Tateno. “However, the technology of the light-water reactor was unproven. I thought it is a responsibility of the researcher to inform the general public of this fact. The U.S. and Japanese governments would not allow us to do this.”

(To be continued)

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