Concentrated Uranium and Constitution
Amounts of concentrated uranium held by countries in the world as of 2012 are as follows:
COUNTRY......................Quantity of Production (ton-SWU/year)
========================================
Russia 25,000
Germany
Netherlands
UK 12,800
US 7,000
France 2,500
China 1,500
JAPAN 1,050
Brazil 115
Iran 7
========================================
Companies that are engaged in processing uranium for enrichment are:
Rosatom (Russia)
Areva (France, EU)
Urenco (UK, Germany, Netherlands)
USEC (US)
CNNC (China)
Nihon Gen-nen (JAPAN)However, only Japan has no possibility of producing nuclear weapons. It is restricted by its Constitution.
ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
(2) To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
But there is a movement in some right-wing politicians in Japan aiming at abolition of this Article 9. Current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made it clear that it is an important agenda for him to revise the Constitution so that Japan can be fully armed like other major countries.
Uranium is linked to the Constitution in Japan.
###
A Shinto Shrine around Tokyo
But there is a movement in some right-wing politicians in Japan aiming at abolition of this Article 9. Current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made it clear that it is an important agenda for him to revise the Constitution so that Japan can be fully armed like other major countries.
Uranium is linked to the Constitution in Japan.
###
