Commentary
Japan’s long-term security policy is driven by concerns about China, and there is little appetite for (or interest in) pursuing a confrontation with Moscow.
James D.J. Brown
Book
Japan's Nuclear Future: The Plutonium Debate and East Asian Security
Japan's policy of basing its nuclear power program on reprocessed plutonium has aroused widespread suspicion, especially in neighboring East Asian countries, that Japan is secretly planning to develop nuclear weapons.
Published on Jul 1, 1996
Source: Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1996
Summary
Japan's policy of basing its nuclear power program on reprocessed plutonium has aroused widespread suspicion, especially in neighboring East Asian countries, that Japan is secretly planning to develop nuclear weapons. This book presents the views of a leading Japanese proponent of the reprocessing policy, Atsuyuki Suzuki, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Tokyo University; a leading critic, Jinzaburo Takagi, Director of the Citizens Nuclear Information Center; and Taewoo Kim, a South Korean specialist who warns that the Japanese nuclear program could lead Seoul to pursue a reprocessing capability of its own.
An introductory essay by Selig S. Harrison analyzes the history of the domestic debate in Japan over the acquisition of nuclear weapons and assesses the possibility of a Japanese nuclear weapons program.
Advance Praise
This unique and important book provides the international community with unprecedented access to a range of sophisticated Asian views on the possibility that Japan may convert its nuclear-energy programme to a nuclear-weapons programme... Harrison pulls no punches [and] no one has been as ambitiously comprehensive in offering policy options to enhance nuclear safety in the region.
-Survival, The IISS Quarterly
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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