Prolonged stoppage of research reactors and critical assemblies affects human resource development

Uesaka, Mitsuru*; Mineo, Hideaki  

All the research reactors and critical assemblies (hereinafter RRCAs) in Japan are stopped in order to fulfil the new regulatory requirements, which were reinforced after the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. These RRCAs have played important roles in the areas of human resource development, academic research, medical and industrial application of nuclear technology. Prolonged stoppage of RRCAs affects adversely those activities. Atomic Energy Society of Japan set up a group to discuss this issue. The group has shown a proposal that the roles of the RRCAs, which are indispensable facilities to nuclear human resource development, should be placed positively in the energy policy and the science and technology policy of the country.