Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 23 - 29 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

PM should have gov’t take lead in handling radioactive water problem: JCP Kasai

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Kasai Akira on October 22 at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting urged the prime minister to take the lead in handling issues regarding radioactive water leakage at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Kasai pointed out that the Fukushima’s Namie Town Assembly on September 20 unanimously adopted a statement in protest against Prime Minister Abe’s remark at the IOC general assembly that the radioactive water leaking from the plant was “perfectly contained”.

The statement criticized PM Abe by arguing that it is apparent to everyone that contaminated water is flowing into the ocean. Abe deflected the criticism by saying that what is contained is “health effects of the water”.

Kasai moved on to the issue of measures to put a stop to the water leakage. Referring to the fact that the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Fukushima plant operator, announced a plan to increase the number of workers at the plant by 200, he pointed out that many workers left the plant in reality.

Kasai presented the fact that about 4,200 sub-contract workers worked at the plant on a daily basis in February. However, the number of workers decreased to 2,400 in October, which include TEPCO employees.

The prime minister said, “The nuclear regulation agency chief has requested the TEPCO president to adequately manage the plant site without delay,” thus continuing to leave the matter to TEPCO.

The JCP lawmaker demanded that the government give up the move to reactivate idled reactors and concentrate on dealing with the radioactive water issue.