De Tōkaimura (1957) à Fukushima (2011). Analyse de la couverture médiatique autour du lancement du premier réacteur nucléaire japonais à la lumière de la catastrophe de Fukushima

Abstract

In 1957, Japan launched its first experimental nuclear reactor, the JRR-1, in Tōkaimura (Ibaraki). The bedrock of the Japanese nuclear industry, it introduced the famed BWR technology—also used in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant—and the training of the future workers of a flourishing industry. Based on the premise that the Fukushima accident was in part caused by the nuclear village—a system created with the commissioning of JRR-1 reactor in Tōkaimura—this paper analyses how the national newspapers covered the launch of the first Japanese reactor, and how the remaining media records suggest that the Fukushima nuclear accident falls within the continuity of earlier policies.

Keywords

• Tōkaimura
• Civil Nuclear
• Press
• Media
• Fukushima
• Nuclear Accident