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On September 7, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 12th meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, there was a report on the outcomes of the verification of emergency response plans in the Shimane area.

Based on the report at the meeting, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we approved emergency response plans in the Shimane area. Matsue City is the only prefectural capital in Japan where a nuclear power plant is located. In addition, a combined total of 460,000 people from Shimane and Tottori Prefectures live within a 30-kilometer radius of the plant. Therefore, we need to tackle challenges unique to the region, such as securing evacuation routes and wide-area evacuations across prefectural borders. In light of these circumstances, we would like to express our appreciation for the cooperation from Shimane and Tottori Prefectures and other municipalities as well as relevant organizations, which have compiled the plans.
 
The Government shoulders a grave responsibility to defend the lives and assets of the citizens even in a contingency case. It is thus important to work closely together with relevant municipalities and business operators and continuously verify and improve these plans through drills and other activities. I ask the relevant ministers to implement measures to facilitate evacuations by, for example, strengthening support from front-line response organizations while also fully taking countermeasures against infectious diseases into account.”