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2013 September 11 - 17 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Gov’t spokesman retracts Abe’s remark on Fukushima radioactive water leak

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide on September 10 retracted Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s remark made at an International Olympic Committee session that the influence of a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was “perfectly contained within the port”.

This remark made about the Fukushima nuclear accident by the prime minister at an international conference is being called into question.

Abe on September 7 in his speech at the IOC general assembly session said, “The influence of a radioactive water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is perfectly contained within a 0.3 square kilometer area within the port attached to the plant.”

However, Suga at a news conference said, “Sea water is flowing in and out of the port.”

According to estimation by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima plant, about half of the water in the port is replaced every day due to sea currents and the tides.

Suga defended Abe by saying, “Radioactive materials in the port are being prevented from going out as much as possible,” because of a set of silt fences installed in the port. But TEPCO said that the silt fence is not capable of fully containing the radioactive material inside the port.

The government spokesman stressed that radiation doses measured in and near the port are below the international standard. If the level of radiation in the port is low, it would mean most of the radioactive materials have already flowed out of the port into the sea.

Past related article:
> PM should fulfill ‘promise’ to IOC: JCP Ichida [September 10, 2013]