Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have a number of matters to report to you.

The accident at the nuclear power plant continues to be a major cause for concern, including reports of water leaking from the pit. At the same time the impact of the accident is such that it is regrettably unavoidable that it is likely to continue for the long-term. Given this outlook, the government is currently considering the ways in which it can strengthen the support for daily living being provided to the people who have evacuated from the area in the vicinity of the plant and to those people who are sheltering indoors in a 20 to 30km radius of the plant, and considering what structures need to be put in place.

At the same time, various different data have been gathered, which are currently being comprehensively analyzed to gain an understanding of the ways the evacuation and shelter zones are to be designated, including measurements of atmospheric and ground radiation. On the basis of this analysis thorough preparations are being made that will enable an even more detailed response to be made.

In particular, given the high possibility of radiation impacting the health of children, surveys have been implemented on three separate occasions to test the thyroid glands of children for any evidence of radiation contamination. The third and most recent test was implemented from March 28 to 30, in the town of Kawamata and the village of Iitate. A total of more than 900 children from 0-15 years of age received tests for radiation contamination of the thyroid gland, and the results showed that there were no children whose screening levels exceeded stipulated limits. I have received a report that including the previous two tests, the second of which was carried out in Iwaki city, there have been no cases in which children were found to have screening levels in excess of stipulated limits.

Radioactive iodine, which is the cause for concern in terms of its effect on the thyroid gland, has a short half-life, and in response to questions about whether the low readings recorded in the tests were due to the fact that they were implemented some time after potential exposure, the results of the current tests have been inversely calculated to assume that exposure to radiation occurred on March 15. I have received a report that even using this inverse calculation, the data shows that there were no children whose test figures reached dangerous levels.

That is all from me for now.

Q&As

REPORTER: I am Kuribayashi of the Yomiuri Shimbun. I have a question about the analysis of the impact of the nuclear power plant accident. You mentioned that it would be difficult to determine, but is the government thinking in terms of months, or in excess of one year, or does the government not have an outlook? On the basis of the government outlook, specifically what new measures do you think that you will be able to implement to strengthen support to the evacuees?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: With regard to your first point, the main question is what can be done to prevent the leaking of radioactive materials from the nuclear power plant. The method by which this will be achieved and the outlook for when it will be achieved is something that is regrettably at the current point we are unable to announce to the public or, in particular, the people directly affected. We are simultaneously considering multiple options and methods and are progressing by doing what is possible to do at the current point.

In addition, once the question of to what degree or level the release of radioactive materials can be contained has been addressed, the next matter will be to ascertain at what point the residents can return home, after thorough safety monitoring has been implemented that analyzes ground radiation and the volumes of radioactive materials in the immediate vicinity of the plant. If statements are made at the current point in relation to the time it will take to stop the escape of radioactive materials this could create excessive expectations in terms of a time frame. We do not want to create such undue expectations so the current situation is that multiple options and methods are being considered with a view to minimizing the time required for containment, and progress is being made by doing what it is possible to do at the current point.

The next point is that with the situation looking as if it will be unavoidably long-term, it is essential to consider the living arrangements for the people who have evacuated to gymnasiums and other locations. The evacuation to gymnasiums and other facilities was predicated on a temporary evacuation, which in itself causes a great loss of freedom and inconvenience for the evacuees. If this situation is set to continue, we must therefore consider the evacuees living arrangements. With the situation set to continue for some time, most of the evacuees will also have no access to their jobs and previous sources of income and the government is giving specific consideration to the forms of assistance that can be provided for the duration of this situation. On the basis of these specific considerations we will move from a structure designed to support temporary evacuation, to one that responds to immediate needs for daily living assistance, while considering the ways in which long-term assistance can be provided. That is the current situation.

REPORTER: I am Toyoshima of Kyodo News. With regard to the details of this long-term evacuation, in a television program today, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Goshi Hosono stressed that one target for containing the release of radioactive materials is viewed in terms of several months. Is this view shared by the government?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Under Special Advisor Hosono, as I have just mentioned, there are a number of people and organizations engaged in specific consideration of multiple methods to prevent the external release of radioactive materials from the power plant, with considerations being coordinated through the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). As I have not received a report from Special Advisor that the specific target you have just mentioned is feasible, my current understanding is that this is one target that is being worked on, among a number of options on the table.

REPORTER: To put it the other way around, if Special Advisor is stating a target of several months, does this imply that it is unlikely to be shorter than that, and that it is really unavoidable that the situation will continue for the long term?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: My understanding is that what Special Hosono said is currently the most orthodox or standard way of considering how the situation will progress. Various knowledge and expertise is being amassed and many lines of inquiry and consideration are being kept open, and although the possibility may be low, we are still looking into the possibility of containing the situation in a shorter period of time.

REPORTER: What do you mean when you say an "orthodox way of considering how the situation will progress"?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have not received direct technical reports so there is a danger that mistakes may be made if I report on something indirectly, however, I hear that the general way of containing the situation is to cool the power plant while at the same time preventing the release of various substances into the environment. This standard procedure is expected to last a number of months.

REPORTER: I am Noguchi of the Asahi Shimbun. I believe that analysis for the purpose of changing the designations of the evacuation area is predicated on a long-term evacuation. Is the government looking to reduce the evacuation area or expand it?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: At the current point we are not making any prejudgments. However, we must continue to engage in various expert analyses of the areas affected to ascertain whether it is likely that certain levels of radiation are likely to continue for the long term or whether they will drop rapidly, and if levels are likely to remain for the long term then the evacuation areas will also remain in place. What is clear is that the people who are sheltering indoors in the 20 to 30km zone are experiencing tremendous hardship and inconvenience and with the situation looking likely to persist for the long-term we will have to look at the ways in which the content of guidance to these people could be changed or if the advisory could be lifted. While recognizing this, the most important priority is to ensure safety and analysis is being conducted from this perspective. At the current point we are not making any prejudgments about whether the evacuation areas will be expanded or reduced.

REPORTER: I am Oda of the Sankei Shimbun. The evacuees are currently living in evacuation centers and their lives are being heavily impacted. Some elderly evacuees have indeed passed away in the evacuation centers. What is the government considering with regard to life in the evacuation centers and what measures is the government planning to implement to improve the standard of living in these centers?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Life in the evacuation centers is naturally extremely difficult for the elderly and the sick, and is also very harsh for all other people. Every effort is being made to ensure that medical care and systems are in place that take into account the needs of the elderly and sick in particular, and that these systems provide care and assistance for people living in evacuation centers. Despite these efforts there have been a number of people whom these structures and systems have not been able to help. We do very much regret this situation.

For evacuees who need hospital attention, maximum efforts have been made to find hospitals that can accept patients and match patient needs to appropriate medical facilities. However, there have been cases in which it has not been possible to find a hospital that can accept a patient at short notice and patients have been forced to remain in the evacuation centers. To the greatest extent that it is possible, efforts will be made to find medical institutions that can accept the sick, and living support teams will further enhance their efforts to match patients with hospitals. It is also important to make further considerations for other people too, in addition to those who need hospitalization. These people include vulnerable groups such as the elderly and efforts need to be made to ensure that these people can maintain their health while staying in evacuation centers. The government would like to call on local governments and medical institutions in the areas where people are living in evacuation centers to make every effort to provide robust medical care and medical systems for evacuees who fall ill or who have health concerns. I believe that depending on the situation, not necessarily immediately, it may be necessary for the central government to provide assistance to local governments and medical institutions in such cases.

REPORTER: On a separate topic, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Katayama said during Sunday Debate on NHK that he would like to establish standard rules for the distribution of money donated for those affected by the disaster. What is the Government viewpoint on this currently?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I understand that donated money has been generally distributed up until now on a prefecture-by-prefecture basis via third-party private sector committees created for the purpose of deciding on standards for distribution. However, this time we are dealing with multiple prefectures. During the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, although Hyogo Prefecture was not the only place that suffered damage, it did suffer the most damage and so the decision about the standard rules for donation distribution was made primarily based on the situation there. This time we are dealing with at least three prefectures, and I am receiving reports that it seems quite difficult to decide on standards for each prefecture. We will therefore establish a cross-prefectural committee to deal with this situation. I believe this is necessary. On a prefectural basis I believe that consultations will take place via prefectural government offices with community chest organizations, the Japanese Red Cross Society and others. We cannot do this prefecture by prefecture. I think we must work hard to play a certain role here - the national government should establish effective third-party commissions to deal with this issue.

REPORTER: I am Koketsu of Jiji Press. A moment ago you stated that any changes regarding evacuation zone around the plants needed to be done carefully. I take this to mean that you think there is a need to reconsider the size of the 20 to 30km indoors evacuation zone. Currently this zone makes a concentric ring around the plants - do you mean that the Government should rethink the shape of the zone, or is it that the evacuation zone should be expanded? What sort of action is the Government considering?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I said earlier, I can make no predictions about whether the evacuation zones will be widened or shrunk. However, we have collected a considerable amount of data on the radiation levels in each area, and the number of observation sites we have is growing. We are approaching a stage in which estimations and analysis have a certain role to play. First I would like to have experts thoroughly conduct such analysis. Based on the results they report, we will discuss what exactly we will do. As I said, analyses are now underway.

REPORTER: I am Nanao of Nico Nico Douga. Thank you for taking my question. Workers on-site have been on the front line of the repair work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is the front lines of repair work, but the situation there continues to be dangerous. It seems like everyday there are reports about the sloppy management system on the TEPCO side, and I think this is causing great concern both among the people of Japan and within the international community. What are your thoughts on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Even today there were reports about more TEPCO employees passing away due to injuries sustained in the earthquake on March 11. I pray that those who have passed away rest in peace.

I believe that efforts to ensure the safety of workers ranks in importance with work to make sure that the current incident does not affect the public. For some time there have been reports about problems with the safety control measures carried out by a number of workers at the power plant. I think you are all aware of this, but I want to remind you that those at the plant are doing their best with the strong resolve that this incident not cause any harm to the public. As I have been saying for some time now, I would like TEPCO's headquarters to watch the situation from a small distance away and put a system in place to thoroughly monitor safety. Subsequently, I think we have been seeing movement toward improvement on many issues, such as the meals offered to workers and TEPCO employees. I would like them to continue making improvements.

REPORTER: On a slightly different topic, the Prime Minister was in his official residence from mid-morning to sometime in the afternoon today. The dangerous situation at the power plants has continued for some time - what kind of system does the Prime Minister have in place to monitor the situation from his residence? In addition, yesterday you did not hold a press conference. I cannot help but feel that the system the Government is employing to respond to the continuing dangerous situation has changed a bit. What are your plans for the continued monitoring of the nuclear incident?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have not heard exactly what Prime Minister Kan did at his residence. Naturally, I can assure you that the Prime Minister fulfilled the roles assigned to him regarding work to support the lifestyles of those affected by the disaster and preparations toward reconstruction while at his residence. Although this has not been set yet, I have heard that he may go to his office later to organize and reconfirm the available information. There are many tasks which he can perform both in his office or in his residence, such as taking phone calls from the mayors of each city, town and village in the disaster-stricken region - something which he has been doing for some time now. So I do not think that it really matters a lot whether he is in his office or his residence. There is of course information which is easier to collect together at his office, and I have heard that he is going to his office as needed to receive it.

I have been saying for a while that the situation around the nuclear power plants is one about which we can make no predications. Although the system by which TEPCO and NISA reported timely information to the public was not implemented perfectly immediately after the earthquake, I think that there have been improvements in the amount of time that has passed since then.

I believe that if there is anything about which the Prime Minister's Office must make a political decision, the system by which the Prime Minister, myself, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry immediately meet and formulate instructions should continue. This system continues to be in place.

REPORTER: I am Kuribayashi of the Yomiuri Shimbun. According to a public opinion poll we conducted this weekend, about 60% of the public believes that the Government response to the nuclear incident has been inappropriate, and 60% feels that not enough has been done to explain the damage at the power plants and leaked radiation. For every question asked, the share of people who feel the Government has done a good job is less than 30%. What do you think the reason is for such dissatisfaction, and how do you intend to improve the Government response regarding these points?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I do not believe that I am in a position to make a comment about how the Government takes the opinions of the people. This incident has caused a lot of suffering for those around the plant. Even for others - currently the water in Tokyo is safe to drink, but earlier on many in the public rushed out to buy bottled water, causing it to sell out at many locations. Sometime after that it was said that infants should refrain from drinking tap water, causing great concern to many parents. In some ways we have caused immense trouble for the people.

There can be no doubt that we are still causing many people trouble, and in that sense, I believe that the Government must face such people with a humble attitude.

Concerning the way information is being communicated to the public, I have repeatedly and firmly stated from the beginning to those in Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and TEPCO that the worse the news is, the faster they must report it. We must not do anything to cause the people to suspect we are hiding bad news.

On the point of whether we have been thoroughly releasing all information, I believe that we have. I must admit that sometimes it has been hard to figure out how to understand the figures and information we have released and that this has caused concern and confusion among the public. There have also been times when we have given instructions that have resulted in terrible rumors causing certain groups harm. However, the absolute most important issue for us is to immediately communicate all the information we receive to the people. We absolutely want to avoid the suspicion that we are hiding anything. I think that as I am on the very front lines of our information sharing work, I especially need to follow through with this. In addition, while presenting information almost at the same time as we receive it, I hope to communicate explanations of what the information presented means based on the judgment and analysis of experts.

REPORTER: I am Kageyama of the Mainichi Shimbun. I would like to ask about the necessity of establishing an accident investigation committee for the nuclear incident. After the Tokai Village criticality accident in 1999, the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) set up an accident investigation committee and the organization then known as the Science and Technology Agency set up an accident investigation headquarters. I understand that the issues at the plants have not yet been cleared up and that we cannot yet make any predications about the future right now, but I also think we will wait a long time for an end to this problem. I think that at the same time as carrying out cooling operations to make sure that the problem doesn't get worse, the Government should begin preparations for an investigation into this incident. Please tell us your opinion on this.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I strongly feel that we must investigate this incident as soon as possible and that we must employ a highly objective framework to do so. However, we are receiving cooperation from many experts, not limited to just the people of TEPCO, the NSC and NISA - who are currently the main actors for this - but really from everyone in Japan with specialized knowledge of nuclear power. We must not create any barriers to the work to deal with the problems at the plants. Although we need to proceed with an investigation, I think we need to really think about how we do this, and move forward as quickly as possible to the extent that the investigation does not slow down the work at the plants.

REPORTER: Excuse me, you stated that the investigation will be carried out in a highly objective way, but if that is the case, do you not think that rather than setting up the accident investigation committee in an existing organization, such as the Nuclear Energy Council, it would be better to established it as some kind of independent organization?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Putting aside factors such as the shape and format of the accident investigation committee, I feel that not only the Government, METI, NISA and TEPCO but also the Nuclear Safety Commission need to go through verifications. It is necessary to perform inspections in a manner that is both independent and highly objective. The issue of how to set this up as a formal organization is another question altogether; but in essence I feel that it probably should be independent.

REPORTER: I am Fujiyama from Fuji Television. Excuse me for going back to the previous discussion, but I would like to talk about the distribution of donations again. In order for those who lost everything in the tsunami to take the first step toward reconstruction, I think it is necessary, first of all, to ensure that the available money gets to them as soon as possible. However, if as you say, the situation regarding distribution is difficult and the country is working hard, then what kind of schedule do you think you will follow? For example, will a committee be set up within a few weeks? Or, do you wish for the money to get to the victims in a few months?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Actually, the main party responsible for distributing the donations is not the Government, but the Japanese Red Cross Society, among others. Therefore, I do not know whether I am in a position to be able to give you an estimate of when the money will be distributed. I think at the least, in the case of disasters such as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the method used was not one in which a decision was made on standards for distribution and all of the money was given at once; rather it has been reported to me that some amount of money was first distributed based on temporary standards, and then after that money was distributed in stages. I don't know if there were two or three stages, or how many there were. The Government has asked concerned organizations to do whatever they can for the time being as soon as possible. In consideration of the difficulty of deciding how to distribute money I have been working hard to tackle cross-prefectural issues. Work on this has already started. Something that may be of assistance here, is that I have already made this a national issue in practical terms, so there is no way that distribution will take months.

REPORTER: You say that the distributing party is the Japanese Red Cross Society, but what kind of outlook are you considering in reality, for groups such as the Headquarters for Special Measures to Assist the Lives of Disaster Victims?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The Government's wish is for them to act at as early a stage as possible. We wish it won't take months. However, as this is not actually the Government's money, I am not in a position to tell you, without consent from the Japanese Red Cross Society and others, when it will be distributed. From the Government's standpoint, I will state that we hope for the primary, first stage of distributions to be completed as soon as possible. We have started work to assist this in whatever ways we can. That is the current situation.

Thank you for your attention.