Six decades of nuclear fuel cycle administration in Japan: From delusional obsession to self-perpetuation. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Amekawa, Yuichiro
• Is Part Of: Energy research & social science. Volume 99(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Nuclear fuel cycle -- Public administration -- Prospect theory -- Bounded rationality -- Energy justice; Power resources -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Energy consumption -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 333.7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2023.103038
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2214-6296

Abstract

Abstract: This essay identifies the institutional shortcomings of Japan's nuclear fuel cycle administration using three theoretical perspectives related to public administration and technology. First, the prospect theory highlights the historical dimensions, focusing on the technological transition of Japan's nuclear fuel cycles. Additionally, it elaborates the existing path dependency claim by suggesting that the administration makes increasingly risky technological decisions following Japan's 1993 international pledge to control excess plutonium and the 1995 Monju accident. Second, a bounded rationality perspective elucidates the cognitive limitations of Japan's public administration in the technological, economic, and national security dimensions of its nuclear fuel cycle policy. Third, an energy justice framework identifies the socio-environmental injustices caused by the nuclear fuel cycle policy, followed by what needs to be done. Thus, this multi-dimensional analysis of temporal, cognitive, and spacious attributes unfolds the six decades of Japan's nuclear fuel cycle administration as a contingent transformation process from the unrequited pursuit of a promised national energy security to a system of self-perpetuation at the cost of public well-being.