"We are aware some people think fast-breeder reactors are very dangerous, [but] fast-breeder reactor technology is very safe and necessary for the future," since it will permit the recycling of plutonium from conventional reactors, said Hiroshi Hara, deputy director of JNC's Oarai engineering center.
Since the Tokaimura accident and TEPCO scandal, several advocates of nuclear power have acknowledged the need for a strong safety culture, but Kazuo Sato, president of the Nuclear Safety Research Association and former head of the Nuclear Safety Commission, admitted "the thinking is not prevalent in all organizations or individuals."
Sato asserts the Japanese nuclear plants "are not less safe than in the US or France," but "no technology can work if you don't have the trust of the public."
He noted that trust could be lost in "seconds" but was extremely hard to regain. "Before, Tokaimura's inhabitants were proud of saying that this village was where the Japanese nuclear industry started," Sato said.
Sato insisted Japan had to end its dependence on imported energy sources.
"We need more nuclear plants to reduce greenhouse gases. Japan must reduce its fossil fuel consumption," he said.
In 2000, a year after Tokaimura, the government was still officially planning to build about 20 more nuclear reactors by 2020, in addition to the 51 existing reactors, but Tokyo needs residents' and local government approval to go ahead in each case.
Hideyuki Ban, co-director of Citizen's Nuclear Information Center, which tries to assess the need and effects of nuclear power for Japan, doubts the government will achieve its targets.
"Japan is building four nuclear power reactors at this moment, but in my opinion after their completion Japan will probably stop constructing any more nuclear facilities because of the strong opposition of local people," he said.
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