記者の目：震災１年 脱原発後の地域の具体像を＝柳楽未来

専門用語：
raison d'etre レイゾンデトラ　存在意義、理由

使用済み燃料の保管は１０万年なのでその間にかかる維持管理費は天文学的数字に達するでしょう。
モンゴルを最終処分地として狙っているとの情報を得ましたがとんでもないことです。
日本人として政府関係者が米国と共謀してそのような動きをしていることに失望させられました。
モンゴルの人たちにもその危険性につき知らせる必要があります。
若狭湾は当面使用済み燃料の保管管理で食べてはいけれるのではないでしょうか。
原発はやはり金食い虫だと考えます。１０万年！

スラチャイ

(Mainichi Japan) March 15, 2012
The future of nuclear industry-dependent towns is now
記者の目：震災１年　脱原発後の地域の具体像を＝柳楽未来

　◇全国最多の「原発地域」若狭湾

There are 14 nuclear reactors on the shores of Wakasa Bay in Fukui Prefecture, the largest concentration in the country. Until Feb. 21, when the last of the 14 reactors still running was shut down for regular maintenance, this clutch of reactors supplied half the electricity used by the entire Kansai region.
　福島第１原発事故直後の昨年３月下旬、全国最多の原発１４基が立地する福井県の若狭湾岸に赴任した。先月２１日で１４基全てが停止するまで、関西の消費電力の半分を供給した地域だ。

Across Japan, the anti-nuclear winds are blowing strong. In the areas around the plants themselves, however, there are equally vehement voices calling for the continuation of nuclear power. Meanwhile, anti-nuclear citizens' groups near the power stations have begun to hunt for a "realistic route" to a post-nuclear power economy in their communities.
全国的に原発への逆風が強まるなか、地元では原発維持を望む声が圧倒的に強い。脱原発を求める地元の市民団体も、将来の町づくりを視野に「現実路線」を模索し始めた。

However, if we see the pro-nuclear faction as simple "nuclear money" addicts, hungry for the jobs and subsidies that come with hosting a plant, then all useful discussion on the issue comes to a grinding halt.
だが、原発維持を望む声を単純に「雇用や交付金などの“原発マネー”目当て」と見ると、原発を巡る議論は止まってしまう。

I was dispatched to the Wakasa Bay area in late March 2011, soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the ensuing meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. What I want people to understand about this debate is that, behind local calls for nuclear power's continuation are deep misgivings over the future of the community. In fact, it is hard for many of these people to see any future at all.
「原発維持」を望む背景には、脱原発後の地域の姿が描けない現状があることを知ってほしい。

　◇財政規模巨大化、繁栄の光景なく

Some 10 kilometers from the center of Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, and 1 kilometer from Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Mihama nuclear plant, is the district of Takenami, home to a cluster of guest houses frequented mostly by plant workers. When I first visited the area, I was taken aback by how close the Miyama plant's three reactors were, their looming bulk weighing down the landscape between the homes and the sea.
　同県美浜町中心部から約１０キロ、関西電力美浜原発からは約１キロ。同町竹波地区には、主に原発作業員を泊める民宿が点在する。初めて訪れた時、円柱形の原子炉３基が海を挟んですぐ目の前に見え、その、あまりの存在感の大きさに驚いた。

"Nuclear workers come and stay at the guest houses, and young people were employed by the power company," says one 75-year-old local farmer. "This place used to be a backwater, but thanks to the nuclear plant it really developed."
農業を営む元町議の山本善昭さん（７５）は「民宿には作業員が泊まり、若者は電力会社に就職した。ここはへき地だったが、原発のおかげで地域が発展した」と話す。

Until I took up my position in Fukui Prefecture, I had always seen communities around power stations as just getting fat off nuclear money. Certainly, the nuclear subsidies for Mihama have made an enormous difference to the town's finances, perhaps best represented by its new, 2.7 billion yen town hall.
　赴任まで、原発がある「立地自治体」には「原発マネーで潤う地域」というイメージがあった。確かに、巨額の交付金で町の財政は巨大化し、美浜町中心部には総工費約２７億円の美浜町役場もできた。

Mihama's Takenami district, however, does not look like it has seen much of that supposed river of nuclear cash. The two-lane prefectural road linking the district to the center of town is often cut by landslides. The community center designated a temporary shelter in case of a nuclear accident is the district's only reinforced concrete building, but it is beginning to show its age, and has also never been earthquake-proofed. Many of the locals are elderly, and the district looks no different than any other sparsely populated rural area. The population of Mihama as a whole has dropped by about 20 percent over the last 40 years.
だが、竹波地区が栄えているようには見えない。地区と町中心部を結ぶ片側１車線の県道は、土砂崩れで頻繁に通行止めになる。原発事故時に一時避難場所となる公民館は地区で唯一の鉄筋造りだが、老朽化し耐震工事もされていない。高齢者が多く、集落の風景は他の過疎地と変わらない。町全体の人口もこの４０年で約２割減少した。

So, has the nuclear plant actually helped Mihama develop?
　原発で本当に地域は発展したのか。

"It's true the population has fallen," says the 75-year-old farmer. "So I have to admit I've wondered whether the plant really gave us explosive advantages."
山本さんは「確かに人口は減った。果たして原発が地域振興の起爆剤になったのかという思いはある」と複雑な胸中を語った。

In January this year, the central government laid down a 40-year maximum service life for nuclear reactors. If this limit is strictly applied, the Mihama plant's three reactors will all be shuttered within five years. For a town benefiting so much from nuclear industry-related subsidies and employment, this would mean a complete shift in the very nature of Mihama's existence. However, the town has yet to stir itself in search of an alternative future, and local calls for the continuation of nuclear power roll on unchanged.
　政府は１月、「原発の寿命」を４０年とする原則を打ち出した。厳格に適用されれば、美浜町の原発３基は５年以内に廃炉になる。原発関連の交付金や雇用が多い同町にとっては、町のあり方を変えざるを得ない状況だ。だが、新たな地域の姿を模索する動きはほとんどなく、「原発維持」を求める姿勢は変わらない。

At a January meeting between local residents and Kansai Electric representatives, Mihama residents expressed mixed feelings about nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima meltdowns.
　「原発がある不安、なくなる不安の両面がある」。１月、関電と地元の懇談会で、住民側は福島の事故後の複雑な心境を吐露した。

"We're worried about nuclear energy, but at the same time we're worried about losing it," some said. The Fukushima nuclear disaster spread radioactive materials far and wide, contaminating fields and doing severe damage to the agricultural sector. The farming representative in the local delegation expressed deep misgivings over the dangers of nuclear power, but at the same time, "Mihama's farms earn very little income, and about 30 percent of farming family members work at the plants. So we hope very much that the reactors will go back on-line," he said.
福島では、田畑にも放射性物質が飛来し、農業が甚大な被害を受けた。懇談会に参加した地元農協の代表は原発の危険性に不安を示しながらも、「農業所得の少ない町だから、農家の３０％は原発に働きに出ている。できるだけ原発を再稼働してほしい」と訴えた。

　◇温度差広がる都市部と地元

Currently, petitions against nuclear energy are proliferating across Japan's urban centers, and millions of signatures have been collected so far. Anti-nuclear activism in local areas, however, has been much weaker. When I asked people in around Mihama about the issue, many told me that "nuclear power is scary, but I have family and neighbors working in nuclear-related jobs, so it's difficult for me to say I'm for abandoning nuclear energy."
　今、都市部を中心に脱原発を求める署名活動が広がり、そこでは、数百万人分の署名が集まる。一方、立地地域での動きは低調だ。地元で取材をしていると「原発は怖いが、親族や近所に原発関連の仕事をしている人が多く、脱原発とは言いにくい」という声もよく聞く。

The No. 1 reactor at the Mihama plant is just over 40 years old, and in that time nuclear power has become deeply entwined with the lives and livelihoods of the townspeople. Even if Japan gives up on nuclear power generation, neither the plant buildings themselves nor the locals' connections to the industry will disappear overnight. Then there is all that spent nuclear fuel still stored at the facilities. The gap in sentiment about nuclear power between cities and the countryside is growing ever wider.
美浜原発１号機の運転開始から４０年あまり。原発は人々の暮らしに密接に結びついてきた。脱原発が実現しても、原発の施設そのものや、原発と暮らしとの結びつきがすぐ消せるわけではない。原発から出た使用済み核燃料も敷地内に残る。「脱原発」という理念だけでは、都市部と地元との温度差は広がる一方だ。

Teruyuki Matsushita, 63, head of the local anti-nuclear group "Mori to kurasu donguri club," has begun a serious look at what route the town might take if nuclear power came to an end. He is in consultation with experts on initiatives to connect local employment with keeping spent nuclear fuel in the town for the next 20 to 30 years, without expanding nuclear facilities. He plans to have proposals ready for submission to the mayor by May this year.
　脱原発を目指して活動を続ける美浜町の市民団体「森と暮らすどんぐり?楽部」代表の松下照幸さん（６３）は今年に入り、現実路線を模索し始めた。原発を増設せず、使用済み核燃料を町内で２０～３０年保管し、地域の雇用につなげる案を識者らと協議中だ。５月までに政策としてまとめ、町長に提案する計画だ。

For Matsushita, who has been pointing out the dangers of nuclear power for many years, this was a bitter choice to make, and he has taken plenty of flak from other anti-nuclear activists for moving in this direction. However, "what will happen to the town if nuclear power just disappears," he says. "If we propose a concrete and realistic policy for alternatives to the nuclear industry, we should be able to ease the region into something different."
　長年、原発の危険性を指摘してきた松下さんにとっては苦渋の決断だ。他の原発反対派からの批判もあるという。だが、「突然、原発が無くなったらこの町がどうなるのか。原発に代わる具体的で現実的な政策を提案すれば、ゆるやかに地域は変われるはずだ」と話す。

We can all see the dangers of nuclear power clearly now, after the Fukushima meltdowns. This year, Japan will engage in a national debate over the next step to be taken in the country's decades-long dance with nuclear energy. A concrete vision of the future of local areas now dependent on nuclear power must be a part of that debate. If we can hammer out that vision, then we can deal with the needs of both sides of the issue -- the local areas hosting nuclear plants and the electricity-consuming urban areas that were the raison d'etre for the plants themselves -- in the same arena. If we can do that, then surely the debate on Japan's energy future will get that much easier.
　福島原発事故で、私たちは原発の危険性をまざまざと見せつけられた。今年は、原発とどう向き合っていくのか、国民的議論が求められる年になる。議論にあたって国は、脱原発後の立地地域の具体像を示すべきだ。それがあれば、原発の立地地域と原発が生む電気の消費地（都市部）が同じ土俵に上がれる。その場合、将来の日本のエネルギーのあり方について議論するのも、それほど難しくなくなるだろう。

(By Mirai Nagira, Tsuruga correspondent)
毎日新聞　2012年3月15日　0時28分