Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has halted world-leading research and BNCT cancer treatment at Kyoto University.
Dozens of lives each year that could have been saved have been lost due to irrational regulatory decisions.

The following is taken from today’s front page of the Sankei Shimbun.
2016-01-04
“Cancer Treatment Halted by the Regulatory Commission,” by Yoshiko Sakurai.
Due to irrational reviews by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, world-leading research that Japan once took pride in has been forced to stop.
An unforgivable situation has arisen in which dozens of lives per year that could have been saved have continued to be sacrificed for two full years.
The Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute was established in 1963 as a hub for reactor-based experiments and related research.
Since then, researchers from universities across Japan have pursued cutting-edge studies there.
It is Japan’s largest integrated educational and experimental facility for nuclear energy and radiation, equipped with two reactors, various accelerator facilities, and high-intensity gamma-ray irradiation systems.
At the core of Kyoto University’s globally recognized research lies fundamental studies using neutrons.
That work has been completely halted, blocked by the wall erected by the regulatory commission.
Neutrons are indispensable for probing the structure of matter with unparalleled precision.
Even trace elemental components in samples of the asteroid Itokawa, brought back by the Hayabusa space probe, were analyzed by irradiating them with neutrons.
One of the major research applications of neutrons at Kyoto University is a cancer treatment known as Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, or BNCT.
Since 1990, Kyoto University’s clinical research in BNCT has exceeded five hundred cases, placing it at the world’s highest level in both case numbers and breadth of application.
Professor Hironobu Unezaki of the Research Reactor Institute’s Department of Nuclear Fundamental Engineering points out that Kyoto University has regarded BNCT cancer treatment as its most important form of social contribution, dedicating one day per week to treatment alongside research and saving forty to fifty lives annually in recent years.
To be continued.