Conclusion

In the end, the Tokai Mura issue was resolved. Through careful negotiations, the U.S. was able to negotiate a number of concessions that appealed to both sides to ensure a good relationship that continued throughout the Carter Administration. The U.S. eventually agreed to permit the startup, or “hot testing” of the new facility using U.S.-origin fuel for a period of two years until 1979, satisfying Japan’s need for the continued development and testing of nuclear energy as a viable alternative energy source for the entire country.

Ironically though, while President Carter and his top officials honed in on issues like nuclear proliferation and weapons grade plutonium, they neglected the issue of nuclear safety. Even more paradoxically, the accident at Three Mile Island had occurred during Carter’s Administration. The accident and the subsequent leakage of radioactive material was almost a total meltdown. It happened in the middle of the Iranian revolution, a revolution that interrupted the world’s oil supply and helped cause the energy crisis in 1979. Soon after that accident, Carter personally visited the accident site to assure the American people that nuclear safety was foremost in his thinking.

Tragically and coincidentally, an accident at the Tokai facility occurred on September 30, 1999. In that accident, the worst one in the history of the Japanese nuclear industry, three workers received high doses of radiation in a Japanese plant preparing fuel for an experimental reactor. Bringing together too much uranium enriched to a relatively high level, what is called a “criticality” to occur, caused the accident. [34]   It is likely that more people were affected by the accident; the “official” estimates downplay the final degree of radiation and subsequent contamination that was released. This was perhaps what the Carter Administration was ultimately trying to prevent.

As one of the most active ex-presidents in history, Jimmy Carter has remained active in nuclear issues. He almost single-handedly negotiated an agreement with North Korea in 1994 (much to the dismay of the Clinton Administration) to halt any nuclear weapons research. His efforts may have helped to avert war during that period, however much of that eventual agreement has unraveled in 2003. Human rights were a constant theme in his presidency and he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize on October 11, 2002 for his untiring commitment to human rights and peace in the world today.

Those who fail to examine history are doomed to repeat it. It appears to some extent that this is what the United States has done in the current North Korean crisis. Just as Jimmy Carter was accepting his well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize in October of 2002, the North Korean nuclear crisis began to escalate. In a time when the public's attention is riveted by almost daily acts of terrorism around the world, the looming threat of nuclear arms proliferation often slips into the background. Yet this issue is often cited as an even greater threat to national and global security than terrorism.

As we have witnessed first-hand in recent months, countries like North Korea may have in fact obtained the means to make a nuclear weapon, if they have not created one already. In retrospect, it appears that the Carter Administration had good reason to be careful in their negotiations on any issue that could impact nonproliferation. The declassified documents did indeed show that the Tokai Mura debate greatly impacted the U.S.–Japan relations. In the end though, the issue strengthened the relations for the remainder of Carter’s term.

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