CNIC Statement: 15 Years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Severe Nuclear Accident at Fukushima Daiichi
March 11, 2026
By the late 1960s, the plate tectonics theory had been widely accepted in the field of geoscience. Meanwhile, on the Japanese archipelago, the number of nuclear power plants began to increase rapidly, as if it had nothing to do with the theory.
The Japanese archipelago exists under completely different natural conditions to those of Europe and America. It is located in a tectonically active zone where four tectonic plates push up against one another and constant disaster measures against earthquakes, crustal movements, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are required. Despite this, the number of nuclear power plants has been increasing.
At the time, pro-nuclear scientists advocated the idea that although the world’s population is growing exponentially, once fast breeder reactors and fusion reactors are realized, there would no longer be any need to worry about energy. In a sense, the nation entrusted its dreams to nuclear power.
Yet, an accident occurred that completely shattered that dream. It was the severe accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, triggered by the Tohoku Pacific Offshore Earthquake (M9.0) on March 11, 2011. The devastation caused by the accident was so severe that, even now, 15 years later, the nation remains under the Nuclear Emergency Declaration. Three reactors suffered core meltdowns, but how the process leading to hydrogen explosions of the plants developed is yet to be elucidated. The high radiation levels at the site that prevent further investigation is one of the reasons for this. Nevertheless, the government and TEPCO persist in presenting a roadmap to complete “decommissioning” by 2051 – all the while, continuing to contaminate the air, the land, and the ocean with radioactive substances.
The National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission Report (2012) stated that the accident was clearly a “man-made disaster.” It argued that the root cause “dates back to the time of Japan’s high economic growth. As Japan pushed nuclear power generation as a national policy, with the political, bureaucratic, and business circles in perfect coordination, an intricate form of ‘regulatory capture’ was created,” leading to “a distinct organizational structure of both the bureaucratic and business sectors, and the ‘mindset’ of the Japanese people that took these for granted.” As a result, they “pursued the critical mission of abiding by precedent and defending the interests of their organization” and “assigned a higher priority to this mission than that of protecting the lives of the people. Hence, while being aware of the global trends in safety control, Japan buried its head in the sand and put off implementing necessary safety measures.”
Observing the decision-making process of the government’s return to a nuclear energy policy, it becomes clear that this “regulatory capture” persists – as ever, the situation where the regulated side is capturing the regulator remains.
While successive chairs of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) have maintained that “the NRA is not an agency that guarantees safety,” the government states that “the public and the private sectors work together to accelerate the restart of reactors whose safety has been confirmed by the NRA.”
Recently, the NRA decided to revise the regulations after multiple operators failed to meet the deadlines for the installation of Specific Safety Facilities (SSF), despite the granting of a five-year grace period.
Fabrication of basic ground earthquake motion data was found at Chubu Electric Power’s Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station. This was reported by a whistleblower. The NRA failed to detect this fabrication. Or rather, they lacked the ability to detect it.
Currently, there is no authority capable of regulating nuclear power in this country. If that is so, then even if it is for civil use, should we not move away from nuclear energy? Perpetuating a system that demands sacrifices across generations is a fundamental mistake.
If we truly wish to achieve a sustainable society, is there any other way than to correct the mistakes made by the government, bureaucracy, business, and academia, and power our society with renewable energy?
