Genshiryoku no shakaishi: Sono nihonteki tenkai. Shinpan 原子力の社会史:その日本的展開. 新版 [A Social History of Nuclear Power: Its Development in Japan. New Edition] by Hitoshi Yoshioka 吉岡斉 (review)

Japan’s nuclear history is paradoxical. The country sustained devastating destruction from two nuclear bombs in World War II, yet it developed one of the most vigorous nuclear power programs in the world. Japan began operating its first nuclear power plant in 1967. Subsequent construction brought the total to fifty-four plants at the time of the catastrophe at Fukushima Daiichi beginning on March 11, 2011. They provided about 30 percent of the country’s electricity. Now Japan needs a new source of energy, a subject that receives a vast amount of attention—from the Japanese people and people all over the world.

The timing is therefore perfect for the appearance of a new edition of Hitoshi Yoshioka’s 1999 book, A Social History of Nuclear Power: Its Development in Japan. A new chapter has been added, totaling about seventy additional pages. The additional content is based on further research by the author, as well as his personal experience as a member of government committees on energy policy that convened before and after March 11. The book can be divided into two parts. In the first, the author examines the early history of Japan’s nuclear program. The second part includes more recent history and an overall assessment of the program.

To set the stage, Yoshioka begins by emphasizing the nuclear program’s structure: the strong leadership provided by the government and the dual structure composed of the Science and Technology Agency and the electricity companies and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry group. In the first edition, the author called this dual system a “subgovernmental model.” That expression does not appear in the new version of the book; however, the ideas of the “subgovernmental model” are still there.

During World War II, atomic energy research was carried out in Japan, only to be prohibited from Japan’s surrender in 1945 until 1951, when a nuclear power program was initiated. In 1956 the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute was established. In 1967 another important part of the Science and Technology Agency was established: the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation, which was meant to develop breeder reactors and advanced thermal reactors. The influence of the group, with members drawn from electricity companies and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, has become stronger since the mid-1970s. Utilities have assumed the tasks of building nuclear power plants, and some have even started their own nuclear research.

An important difference between the first edition and the new edition under review may be seen in the author’s characterization of the period beginning in the mid-1990s, a change that offers important historical lessons. Chapter 6 was originally—and cautiously—titled “Nuclear Program Faces a Change.” In the next, concluding chapter, the author forecasted the future direction of Japan’s nuclear program. In the new edition, this careful tone has been replaced by a big-picture description of the “rise and fall of the Japanese nuclear program,” and the author has foregrounded his critical viewpoint. The additional material covers the period from 1995 to the present, and the author describes many accidents and problems with nuclear policy.

He also describes the many challenges of this period. The nuclear industry had to cope with popular opposition to nuclear power. There were delays in the development of such critical areas as breeder reactor and nuclear fuel technologies. The Science and Technology Agency was eliminated in 2001, and the organizational structure of the nuclear program changed. A number of public enterprises were privatized, creating a hostile environment for the nuclear industry in general. Local governments resisted the construction of nuclear facilities within their jurisdictions. While Japan tried to develop its own technology, multinational consortiums competed to build new nuclear plants in developing countries. The organizational structure of the industry, defined by unrelated groups all pursuing...