Chapter 23
Expectation for Nuclear Transmutation
Akito Arima
Abstract It is my great honor and pleasure to speak to you this morning on the
occasion of the International Symposium on Nuclear Back-end Issues and the Role
of Nuclear Transmutation Technology after the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations. I would like to thank the organizers, especially
Professor Hirotake Moriyama and Professor Hajimu Yamana, for inviting me to
this Symposium.
I believe that this Symposium is very important and well timed to solve urgent
problems concerning nuclear back-end issues and to develop nuclear transmutation
technology. I myself am a nuclear theoretical physicist and am ignorant of nuclear
technology. However, I believe that nuclear energy is indispensable for the future of
human beings and that nuclear engineering must be further developed.
My talk consists of the following four subjects:
1. Demand for primary energy and electricity is increasing year by year.
2. Global warming is becoming a more serious problem.
3. Development of renewable energy must be promoted. However, it will require
sufficient resources of time and budget.
4. Human beings cannot avoid depending on nuclear energy as well as other energy
resources that do not emit CO 2 .
5. Nuclear technology must be developed.
(a) The safety technology of nuclear energy has to be developed for the future.
(b) The technology for the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle has to be
enhanced. The site for final disposal of nuclear wastes has to be determined
as soon as possible in Japan, which is a responsibility of the Central
Government.
(c) The research and development of innovative technologies, such as
accelerator-driven systems, must be promoted to encourage the progress
of final disposal.
A. Arima (*)
Japan Radioisotope Association, 2-28-45, Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 113-8941, Japan
e-mail: arima@musashi.jp
© The Author(s) 2015
K. Nakajima (ed.), Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste
Disposal, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_23
271
Expectation for Nuclear Transmutation
Akito Arima
Abstract It is my great honor and pleasure to speak to you this morning on the
occasion of the International Symposium on Nuclear Back-end Issues and the Role
of Nuclear Transmutation Technology after the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations. I would like to thank the organizers, especially
Professor Hirotake Moriyama and Professor Hajimu Yamana, for inviting me to
this Symposium.
I believe that this Symposium is very important and well timed to solve urgent
problems concerning nuclear back-end issues and to develop nuclear transmutation
technology. I myself am a nuclear theoretical physicist and am ignorant of nuclear
technology. However, I believe that nuclear energy is indispensable for the future of
human beings and that nuclear engineering must be further developed.
My talk consists of the following four subjects:
1. Demand for primary energy and electricity is increasing year by year.
2. Global warming is becoming a more serious problem.
3. Development of renewable energy must be promoted. However, it will require
sufficient resources of time and budget.
4. Human beings cannot avoid depending on nuclear energy as well as other energy
resources that do not emit CO 2 .
5. Nuclear technology must be developed.
(a) The safety technology of nuclear energy has to be developed for the future.
(b) The technology for the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle has to be
enhanced. The site for final disposal of nuclear wastes has to be determined
as soon as possible in Japan, which is a responsibility of the Central
Government.
(c) The research and development of innovative technologies, such as
accelerator-driven systems, must be promoted to encourage the progress
of final disposal.
A. Arima (*)
Japan Radioisotope Association, 2-28-45, Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 113-8941, Japan
e-mail: arima@musashi.jp
© The Author(s) 2015
K. Nakajima (ed.), Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste
Disposal, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_23
271