Mainichi Shimbun Editorial: Seek a way out of reliance on nuclear power

Energy is a matter of life or death for a nation. As such, nuclear power has been an important source of energy for many countries. However, one cannot help but doubt whether Japan really needed so many nuclear power stations as all such plants have now been stopped.

Japan has still not achieved a society without nuclear power plants. It is of great significance for us to experience a society that does not use nuclear power and to consider Japan's future energy situation. We should take this opportunity to prepare to change Japan's energy policy while looking back on the country's history of nuclear power.

Japan's first commercial nuclear power station began operations in 1966. Japan's first light-water nuclear reactor for commercial use transmitted power to the site of the opening ceremony for Expo 1970 in Osaka Prefecture. The number of nuclear reactors in the country has since steadily increased and reached 55 in 2006.

Over that period, however, the world has witnessed serious nuclear accidents -- the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. A critical nuclear accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1999 and the Niigata Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake in 2007 that hit an area where a nuclear plant is located sounded an alarm about the risks of earthquakes and radiation.

Nevertheless, Japan did not change its dependence on nuclear energy. ...