英字新聞

すばらしい。素直に感動させられました。
久しぶりに新聞記者の記者魂をみせてもらいました。
こんな新聞記者もいるのですね。

普通は英文、和文で文節ごとに対応させて掲載するのですが、今回はそれをしませんでした。
英文は平易です。和文より分かりやすいくらいのものなのですが、ネイティブには違和感があるのかも知れません。
なによりすばらしい内容に打たれました。

原発の使用済み燃料の最終処分地とてモンゴリアが目をつけられたということですが、日本人として恥ずかしく思いました。
自国の使用済み燃料は自国で最終処分するのが道理ではないでしょうか。たとえ１０万年の間安全に保管する必要があるにしても。
米国と日本が仕組んだ、このような陰謀は、モンゴリアの人々に広く紹介されるべきだと思いました。
日本は使用済み核燃料の保有量が世界で３番目の核大国なのです。
第一位はアメリカ、第二位はカナダ、そして、日本が第三位なのです。

日本は恥を知るべきだと感じました。

スラチャイ

Mainichi scoop on Mongolia's nuclear plans highlights problems in dealing with waste
特集：ボーン・上田記念国際記者賞、毎日新聞・会川晴之記者に　盲点「核のゴミ」問う

Coverage on a secret document detailing an international nuclear waste disposal site that Japan and the United States had planned to build in Mongolia, for which I won the Vaughan-Ueda Memorial Prize for 2011, has highlighted the difficulties in dealing with radioactive waste.

The secret plan surfaced as the crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant has stirred controversy over the pros and cons of nuclear power.

I learned that the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the U.S. Department of Energy had been secretly negotiating the plan with Mongolia since the autumn of 2010 when I interviewed a U.S. nuclear expert on the phone on April 9, 2011.

"Would you please help the Mongolian people who know nothing about the plan. Mongolia is friendly to Japan, Japanese media certainly has influence on the country," the expert said.

I flew to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, on April 22, and met with then Ambassador Undraa Agvaanluvsan with the Mongolian Foreign Ministry in charge of negotiations on the plan, at the VIP room of a cafe.

Before I asked the ambassador some questions getting to the heart of the plan, we asked my interpreter to leave the room just as we had agreed in advance. The way the ambassador talked suddenly became more flexible after I stopped the recorder and began asking her questions in English. She explained the process and the aim of the negotiations and even mentioned candidate sites for the disposal facility.

After the interview that lasted for more than two hours, the ambassador said she heard of a similar plan in Australia and asked me to provide Mongolia with any information on it, highlighting the Mongolian government's enthusiasm about overcoming competition with Australia in hosting the disposal facility.

I subsequently visited three areas where the Mongolian government was planning to build nuclear power stations. Japan and the United States were to provide nuclear power technology to Mongolia in return for hosting the disposal facility. I relied on a global positioning system for driving in the vast, grassy land to head to the sites. All the three candidate sites, including a former air force base about 200 kilometers southeast of Ulan Bator, are all dry land. No source of water indispensable for cooling down nuclear reactors, was found at any of these sites and a lake at one of the sites had dried up.

Experts share the view that nuclear plants cannot be built in areas without water. I repeatedly asked Mongolian officials responsible for nuclear power policy how they can build nuclear plants at the sites without water. However, they only emphasized that all the three sites meet the safety standards for nuclear plants set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

An Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry official, who is familiar with Mongolian affairs, said, "Mongolians are smart but their knowledge of atomic energy isn't that good ..."

In other words, Japan and the United States proposed to build a spent nuclear waste disposal facility in Mongolia, a country that has little knowledge of nuclear energy.

In 2010, the administration of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan released a new growth strategy with special emphasis on exports of nuclear power plants. However, there is no facility in Japan that can accept spent nuclear fuel, putting itself at a disadvantage in its competition with Russia, France and other countries that have offered to sell nuclear plants and accept radioactive waste as a package.

A Japanese negotiator said, "The plan to build a disposal facility in Mongolia was aimed at making up for our disadvantage in selling nuclear power stations."

The United States wanted to find another country that will accept spent nuclear fuel that can be converted to materials to develop nuclear weapons in a bid to promote its nuclear non-proliferation policy.

Both the Japanese and U.S. ideas are understandable. However, as Mongolia has just begun developing uranium mines and has not benefited from atomic energy, I felt that it would be unreasonable to shift radioactive waste to Mongolia without explaining the plan to the Mongolian people.

During my stay in Mongolia, I learned that many people there donated money equal to their daily wages to victims of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. I was also present when the Mongolian people invited disaster evacuees from Miyagi Prefecture to their country. I could not help but shed tears when seeing the Mongolian people's goodwill. My interpreter even joked, "You cry too much."

I did not feel a sense of exaltation from learning the details of the secret negotiations on the disposal site. I rather felt ashamed of being a citizen of Japan, which was promoting the plan.

The Fukushima nuclear crisis that broke out following the March 11, 2011 quake and tsunami has sparked debate on overall energy policy. Some call for an immediate halt to nuclear plants while others insist that such power stations are indispensable for Japan's overall energy, industrial and security policies.

"The matter isn't limited to nuclear energy. Our generations have consumed massive amounts of oil and coal," a Finish government official said.

The Mainichi scoop on the secret plan sparked campaigns in Mongolia to demand that the plan on a spent nuclear fuel disposal facility be scrapped and that relevant information be fully disclosed.

Bowing to the opposition, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj declared in the U.N. General Assembly session in September last year that the country can never host a radioactive waste disposal facility.

Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, which is dubbed a "nuclear watchdog," says, "Those who generate radioactive waste must take responsibility for disposing of it. It's unfair to expect someone else to take care of it."

However, human beings have yet to find a solution to problems involving nuclear waste.

(By Haruyuki Aikawa, Europe General Bureau)
(Mainichi Japan) March 13, 2012

特集：ボーン・上田記念国際記者賞、毎日新聞・会川晴之記者に　盲点「核のゴミ」問う

　国際報道で優れた成果を上げた記者に贈られる今年度のボーン・上田記念国際記者賞に、欧州総局（ロンドン）の会川（あいかわ）晴之記者（５２）が選ばれた。昨年３月１１日の東京電力福島第１原発事故を受けて世界中で原発を巡る議論が起きる中、日本と米国がモンゴルで進めた国際的な核廃棄物処分場計画の秘密交渉を特報。原子力利用の盲点である「核のゴミ」の問題を追い続けた会川記者の取材の軌跡を紹介し、「核」を考える機会としたい。

　◇被災地思い、取材没入
　「何も知らないモンゴルの人たちを助けてあげてくれませんか。モンゴルは親日国だから、日本のメディアは影響力があるはずだ」

　日米が主導したモンゴルでの使用済み核燃料の貯蔵・処分場計画。１０年秋から経済産業省、米エネルギー省などが秘密裏に始めた交渉を知ったのは昨年４月９日、米国の核専門家への電話取材がきっかけだった。

　そのほぼ１カ月前の東日本大震災発生以来、居ても立ってもいられない日が続いていた。私は８７年に岩手県で記者生活をスタートさせた。被災した東北地方への思いが募り、自分ができることを問い続けた。遠いロンドンで勤務しながら、焦燥感だけが募っていた。

　そんな時、被災者支援の活動を始めた高校時代の友人から「餅は餅屋」とのアドバイスを受けた。心は定まった。高校時代に興味を持って以来、自分が最も得意とする分野、そして、今求められている「核」の話を徹底的に書くしかない、と。原子力産業や国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）など、長年の取材で知り合った人たちに、つかれたように電話をかけ始めた。米国の核専門家はその一人だった。

　◇「押しつけ」に違和感
　４月２２日、モンゴルの首都ウランバートルに入った。カフェのＶＩＰルームで会ったのが、モンゴル外務省のオンダラー交渉担当大使（当時）だった。

　取材がヤマ場に入る直前、打ち合わせ通り、モンゴル人通訳に部屋から出るよう指示した。録音機を止め、英語での質問に切り替えると、しゃくし定規だった彼女の応対に変化が表れ始めた。交渉の経緯や狙い、処分場予定地にも話が及んだ。

　２時間を超す取材の最後には「オーストラリアにも同様の計画があると聞く。どんな情報でもいい。連絡してほしい」と頼まれた。誘致で後れをとりたくない、というモンゴル政府の意気込みが伝わってきた。

　取材後、モンゴル政府が計画する３カ所の原発候補地も訪ねた。処分場の受け入れと引き換えに、日米は原子力技術をモンゴルに提供することになっていた。全地球測位システム（ＧＰＳ）を頼りに草原の道なき道を車でひた走った。だが、ウランバートルから東南２００キロの元空軍基地をはじめ、候補地はいずれも乾いた大地だった。原子炉冷却に不可欠な水源が見当たらず、地図には明示されている湖は枯れていた。

　「水が無い場所に原発建設は無理」というのが専門家の常識だ。疑問に思い、モンゴルの原子力関係者に何度も尋ねたが「ＩＡＥＡの安全基準を満たした場所だ」と力説するのみ。モンゴルの事情をよく知る経産省幹部は「モンゴル人は極めて優秀だが、原子力の知識はちょっと……」と言葉を濁した。