Questions Raised by the Nuclear Power Accident of March 11, 2011

Research Report from Germany’s Ethics Committee Germany immediately established an ethics committee and decided to abandon nuclear power after the March 11 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, which indicates that nuclear power plants are an ethical issue. The reason that the ethics committee was formed is included in the report. Germany’s action subsequently had a tremendous impact on Japan. Ethics are an important issue in social policy; in fact, I believe the concept that ethics is the determinant factor has tremendous resonance in Japan. What is the defi nition of ethics in the joint venture report for safe energy in Germany? There are about fi fteen people on the committee, of whom three are representatives of Christian churches. There are some scientists, but there are more committee members in the humanities. Of course safe energy is a problem of science and technology, but it is also an issue of public policy and the choices we make about how to live. I think that’s the realization. Looking at the content of the report, however, it is written comparatively logically. What appears in the report is the “concept that is key to ethical value judgments is having sustainability and responsibility.” As we heard a few minutes ago, the German committee’s fundamental concept is sustainability and responsibility for future generations. This is also paraphrased as the interaction between humans and nature or the relationship between society and nature. When it comes to ethics in Christianity and European culture, we are not simply talking about rules. Naturally, our sense of values is based on culture. While we inherit our sense of right and wrong from our traditions, we also formulate our own sense of values. In Europe, the consensus is that humans have the responsibility to protect and pass down the environment granted to them from God. It is a position based on the inheritance of religious tradi-