Message from the Director General
Our Mission
The decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. and the restoration of the environment in areas where it is difficult to return are important issues facing Japan, but there are many difficult problems to solve.
For example, in decommissioning, it is necessary to remove fuel debris from an extremely high radiation environment, and it is necessary to promote safe, reliable, and prompt work that is technically difficult. This is an extremely challenging mission that humankind has never experienced. For this reason, it is essential for the future to proceed with steady technological development. We will solve these problems by gathering domestic and foreign wisdom, and will surely promote decommissioning and environmental recovery.
As the Prime Minister Abe told in the Olympic invitation speech, the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is now in the stable condition, and it is under control. However, it would be dangerous to continue this situation for decades in the future. Therefore, we must properly process and dispose the extremely dangerous radioactive wastes such as fuel debris. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is only one research organization that has contributed to the industrial application and the development of science and technology through the utilization of radioactive materials and nuclear energy.
The decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is an issue that should be surely accomplished, but it is also extremely difficult to complete this task. For example, it is required to take out and process the fuel debris in the reactor where the radiation level is extremely high, and then safely dispose it. If the debris is small enough to be treated in test tube, JAEA has already technology to safely dispose it. However, considering that the radiation level at the reactor site is considerably high and the amount of total debris is so large corresponding to nuclear fuels in three reactors, we cannot directly apply our technology to the real debris. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to promote the research and development based on various knowledge and experiences.
Looking at the world, there are the other research institutes that have experiences in treating nuclear fuels such as uranium and radioactive materials like JAEA. Especially, US, UK, France and Russia have years of experiences about nuclear fuels and radioactive materials. It is expected to safely accomplish the decommissioning of the reactors in Fukushima with cooperation of JAEA and the other research institutes in the world.
As the Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS) contains the word "Collaborative", this is the international hub where researchers from all over the world collaborate on the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Here, JAEA takes an initiative as a specialized research institute for nuclear energy and radiation, and promotes various research and development on the decommissioning. In addition, it is also required for JAEA to promote the research and development towards the safe decommissioning of the reactors in Fukushima by collaborating with the other domestic research organizations and universities.
The latter three letters in CLADS represent the initials of the words "Advanced Decommissioning Sciences". The final goal of CLADS is to contribute to whole human beings through the research on the decommissioning of reactors not only in Fukushima but also those in the world that caused the severe accident like Chernobyl. It is an extremely difficult and challenging research subject which human beings have never experienced before. While collaborating with the world, we are conducting research and development to promote the safe decommissioning.
Director GeneralProf. Koji Okamoto