Prime Minister Shinzo Abe jointly held the 33rd meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters and third meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on "additional measures for the decommissioning and contaminated water issues at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (draft)," "the policy for accelerating Fukushima's reconstruction from the nuclear disaster (draft)," and "the enhancement of nuclear emergency preparedness measures." Also, "Additional measures for the decommissioning and contaminated water issues at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station" and "the policy for accelerating Fukushima's reconstruction from the nuclear disaster" were decided.

Based on the decisions, the Prime Minister said in his address,

"There is no revitalization of Japan without the reconstruction of Fukushima. It is our mission to help rebuild as quickly as possible the lives of over 140,000 people who are still forced to evacuate from their homes as a result of the nuclear disaster. For this reason, I myself have visited Fukushima five times since the inauguration of my administration.
Despite completing the revisions of the evacuation order areas for all municipalities in August of this year, the revitalization efforts in Fukushima on the whole are unfortunately behind schedule. Moreover, the measures for settling the decommissioning and contaminated water issues have just gotten underway.  
In this context, it has become evident that it will be difficult for residents and local municipalities to make any new headway in some issues with an eye on the future, if we only take initiatives that follow the conventional policy. Also, we have received proposals regarding the reconstruction of Fukushima from the ruling parties.  
Therefore, today, we have decided on 'the policy for accelerating Fukushima's reconstruction from the nuclear disaster,' which includes the following three basic visions:
(1) Supporting Fukushima both in realizing the early return of residents and in building their new lives;
(2) Strengthening the initiatives to bring the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to a conclusion; and
(3) Accelerating the revitalization of Fukushima with the Government playing a proactive role.
In line with these decisions, I would like to ask relevant Cabinet members to address the priority issues, notably:
(1) Strengthening measures designed to address the health concerns of those affected by the nuclear disaster, and the initiatives related to decontamination and interim storage facilities, with a view to lifting the evacuation orders and realizing the return of residents;
(2) Enhancing compensation payments to help residents start new lives, and expanding the development of reconstruction hubs, etc.;
(3) Implementing preventive and multi-layered decommissioning and contaminated water measures; and
(4) Clarifying the division of roles between the Government and TEPCO.
Through sufficient consultations with local communities, I would like to ask relevant Cabinet members to develop a roadmap for rebuilding the lives of the affected people and revitalizing the relevant municipalities.  
With regard to support for the establishment of municipality evacuation plans, I see that considerable progress has been made in giving shape to the evacuation plans as a whole as a result of the initiatives that were taken in each region through the partnership of municipalities and the Government, taking into account my previous instructions. 
I would like to ask you to continue to put efforts into settling the remaining issues, and to further enhance the plans according to the situation of the regions. The effectiveness of the plans will need to be studied through trainings. These initiatives will be continued going forward."