Tokai village is a home to the first commercial nuclear power plant in Japan. In Tokai village, Nuclear Power Plants are directly adjacent to residential districts. This study investigates the context of this situation by looking back around 1960 when the plants were built and clarifying the urban planning, development project ideas, and decision-making processes that were involved in the planning. The main findings of this analysis are listed below:
1) When the location of Japan’s first commercial nuclear power plant in Tokai village was being examined in the summer of 1959, the chairman of the Nuclear Power Commission, Nakasone Yasuhiro, attempted but ultimately failed to negotiate an act on nuclear power urban planning with the National Diet of Japan. To compensate for this lack of law, the Ibaraki Prefecture devised a basic plan for the construction of the plant in Tokai. However, Ibaraki Prefecture, which had designated Tokai as the site of the atomic center, completely watered down the intended regulations.
2) The Tokai Atomic Urban Development Prospectus was drafted in 1957, which was the document that the development project for the construction of the nuclear power center in Tokai Village. The Tokai Atomic Urban Development oversaw the development process, acquiring and managing sites for the companies advancing into Tokai Village, and managing the construction and administration of shared company facilities.
3) As for the location of the companies advancing into Tokai Village, sites close to railway station and national highway were secured to facilitate convenient transport. In addition, sites close to the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) were designated for employee residence housing. When the construction of the Tokai Power Station was approved in December 1959, the companies advancing into Tokai Village gained property rights over the sites it had acquired and managed, and the development of the village for the operation of the Tokai Power Station officially commenced.
4) Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) Inc. drafted the development plan, founded Tokai Atomic Urban Development, acquired and managed company sites, and constructed shared facilities. The Ibaraki Prefecture involved JAIF in making decisions on city plan of Tokai Village. Consequently, city plan was created in which the plan of JAIF was respected to the utmost, and residential area development proceeded around the site of Tokai Power Station.
The involvement of the JAIF in urban planning in Tokai village, together with the above-mentioned spirit of collaboration, led to the creation of a problematic plan, wherein locations around the plant were not zoned as industrial areas, the Tokai Power Station site was not zoned at all, and residential areas were surrounded by industrial areas on three sides.
The decision not to regulate the development of the areas surrounding the nuclear plant site has led to the current difficult situation whereby no regulations have been enacted to govern the advancing development.
