Japan should conduct computer simulations on nuclear weapons: Ishihara
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Friday that Japan should carry out computer simulations on nuclear weapons as such experiments can be conducted within a short period of time.
Ishihara said during a press conference that the United States has conducted new computer simulations to check the effectiveness of its nuclear warheads, even after the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, and added, “Japan should be able to do that much.”
“A simulation can be completed within three months. We also have lots of plutonium,” he said, but he did not specify which of the U.S. experiments he was referring to.
The outspoken governor also said of Japan’s defense policy, “If Japan does not become a strong military nation, we will definitely lose our standing” in the international community.
Ishihara said Japan would be able to carry out the simulations utilizing supercomputers. “Japan should carry out such experiments,” he said.
With such technology, Japan should make efforts to create new strategic weapons that “have nothing to do with nuclear power,” he added.
Ishihara made the comments a day before the 66th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in western Japan and four days before the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in southwestern Japan.
The remarks also came amid the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, located around 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. are still struggling to bring the crisis at the plant, which has been crippled since the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami, under control.
Kyodo, August 6, 2011