Now showing
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age (1987-02-25)
About this film
Ambassador Ryukichi Imai--journalist, nuclear engineer, and general manager at Japan Atomic Power Company--was Japanese ambassador to the United Nations Disarmament Conference from 1982 to 1987. In the interview he conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, Imai describes a career in which he became an expert on nuclear energy and non-proliferation in ways that paralleled Japan's stages of harnessing and expanding its reliance on atomic energy. Employed by Japan Atomic Power Company at the first commercial nuclear-power station in the country, Imai worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop safeguards for nuclear technologies. He recalls that in the 1950s, few talked about the link between nuclear energy and weapons. He describes testifying on behalf of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Japan debated for six years before ratifying. Debate centered on whether Japan should have the right to arm itself and on the high costs of safeguards that would handicap industry in the global market. Imai argued in support of the NPT, and he did not want to jeopardize the 1951 mutual-security treaty with the United States that he regarded as paramount to Jap…
Directors & creators
WGBH
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Ryukichi Imai, Jimmy Carter, Japan Atomic Power Company, International Atomic Energy Agency, Asahi Shimbun, University of Tokyo, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Atoms for Peace, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Tokaimura, Japan, United States, nuclear energy, nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament, nuclear safeguards
More from this pool