US sees lax security at Japan’s nuclear sites as terror risk
Report says US officials are privately alarmed over lax security at facilities, especially one that will soon produce weapons-grade plutonium
US government officials and nuclear experts are privately concerned about security at Japan's atomic plants - in particular the Rokkasho reprocessing facility, which will soon begin producing vast quantities of weapons-grade plutonium.
Their warnings, reported on Tuesday by the Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity (CPI), contrast with Washington's official line that it is unworried by the project, and Japan's stockpiles of nuclear fuel.
Japan could be building an irresistible terrorist target, experts say
The report by the non-profit investigative journalism centre focused on Rokkasho and was headlined "Japan could be building an irresistible terrorist target, experts say".
The plutonium-powered fast-breeder reactor plant on the Pacific coast is to fully open in October, and was conceived as a way of creating a special fuel to feed Japan's nuclear plants.
When it is operating at full capacity, the plant will produce eight tonnes of plutonium a year. Experts say that would be enough to build 2,600 nuclear warheads, although Japan insists the plant is purely for energy production.
The US officials' reported comments to the CPI are in contrast to public reassurances from Washington that it is not concerned about Japan's stockpiles of plutonium. Those public statements were made before a board session of the International Atomic Energy Agency in response to expressions of concern raised by both China and Russia.
But behind the scenes, according to the CPI, the administration of US President Barack Obama has been lobbying hard to convince Japan that terrorists might see Rokkasho's new stockpile of plutonium as an attractive target and to increase security at the plant. Officials told the CPI that all their warnings have fallen on deaf ears.