The catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has demonstrated that the long-standing assertion by the power industry and the government that nuclear power is safe and cheap is sheer propaganda and a gigantic myth.
It proves that utilization of nuclear power involves great risks and that an electricity supply system based on large-scale power plants concentrated in certain areas is vulnerable to disasters. Regrettably, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda appears eager to revive nuclear power generation and is even pushing for the export of nuclear energy-related technologies.
Traditionally, the power industry and the trade and industry ministry's Natural Resources and Energy Agency decided on construction of large-scale power stations, both thermal and nuclear, to meet predicted demand for electricity by key industrial sectors. But this approach excluded promotion of small-scale renewable energy sources scattered around the nation. It also paid almost no attention to the importance of power-saving efforts.