Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have two items to report. The first item concerns relief to be provided for those who have been affected by the accident at the nuclear power station. Today, I received a strong request by telephone from the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture that in addition to the 1 million yen temporary payment that has been received by the people affected by the accident, he wished for further compensation to be disbursed without further delay. A Review Panel on Conflicts over Compensation for Damages by Nuclear Power was established on April 11 and so far this panel has convened on two occasions. Given the strong request from the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, I have requested this Panel to further accelerate its deliberations. I have received a report that deliberations to date have followed government instructions in considering matters of great urgency including the evacuations and restrictions on shipment and matters that have a high probability of requiring compensation, with a view to providing expedited relief to victims. Once deliberations have crystallized, it is planned that a guideline for the scope of compensation will be issued. Tomorrow, the third meeting of the Panel is scheduled to be held and based on deliberations to date, I hear that it aims to devise a temporary guideline for compensation claims. I have reiterated my request and instructions to the panel to compile a draft guideline promptly, in view of the strong requests from people in the local communities and the current situation of the people who have been affected.

The second item concerns the lifting of restrictions on shipment. Today, the Government issued instructions to the Governors of Tochigi and Fukushima Prefectures to lift the shipment restrictions on a number of agricultural products. These are: spinach produced in all areas of Tochigi Prefecture in addition to the city of Nasushiobara and the town of Shioya, for which restrictions had already been lifted; flower-bud type vegetables of the Brassicaceae family, including broccoli, produced in eight municipalities in the south of Fukushima Prefecture; and bulbous leafy vegetables, including cabbage, produced in 17 municipalities in the Aizu and Minami-Aizu districts of Fukushima Prefecture. For further details, please direct your questions to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

Q&As

REPORTER: Today in a number of elementary schools in Fukushima Prefecture, particularly in the city of Koriyama, work has begun to remove the top layer of earth from school playgrounds, in which high levels of radioactive materials had been detected. This action has caused some people to praise the independent actions of the prefecture, while it has caused others concern as there are some schools where this earth removal operation is not being carried out. How do you view this situation and the moves to remove the top layer of earth from school playgrounds?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am aware that in various schools, and on different levels, including at the prefectural, municipal and board of education levels, various efforts are being made to ensure that children can go about their everyday lives in as normal an environment as possible. From the perspective of safety, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has issued a guideline which is very conservative in terms of the guidance provided with the aim of ensuring safety. The guideline that has been issued advises use of school playgrounds for a period of approximately one hour per day and some schools have made independent efforts to ensure that children can use playgrounds without any time restrictions. While I am sorry that such actions have had to be taken in the first place, I view them as proactive measures.

REPORTER: As you say, MEXT issued a guideline on April 19 concerning the criteria for use of school playgrounds. However, according to local press, these criteria for use were not made clear. What means are you considering to implement the guideline more thoroughly in the future or to make the criteria more detailed?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have received a report that at the time the guideline was issued an official of MEXT travelled to Fukushima to provide various explanations. If further communication with various schools or Boards of Education is required, then we will look into that possibility.

REPORTER: I believe that this morning the Prime Minister met with representatives of the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations. In this meeting, the Prime Minister is reported to have stated that consideration is being given to the construction of a large-scale pool in the grounds of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, in which to store water contaminated with radiation. What is the status of consideration on this issue and is there a target for when construction can begin?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have received reports that currently a variety of methods are being considered and preparations are made simultaneously concerning specific ways of proceeding with the timetable for containment of the situation at the nuclear power station, including means to ensure that contaminated water is not released into the environment. I am aware that the method mentioned by the Prime Minister today is one of the options available, but it is not certain that the method mentioned will be the one that is employed. I believe the Prime Minister stated that the option of a pool is one of the various means and possibilities being considered.

REPORTER: In a speech to the Japan National Press Club (JNPC) the other day, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Mabuchi mentioned that a large-scale isolation wall buried underground was the means by which contaminated water would be prevented from escaping. Is this the same means as that mentioned by the Prime Minister today?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have heard that the method mentioned by Special Advisor Mabuchi is one of those being considered from a number of options. I am not aware that this is the same method as the Prime Minister referred to, but as I have already mentioned, there are a number of possibilities all being considered simultaneously.

REPORTER: I asked the same question yesterday, but what is the current status of considerations with regard to relief measures for people affected by liquefaction?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: This is a matter for which considerations are being advanced at the working level, with a view to responding to the greatest extent possible under the provisions of the Special Financial Aid Act for Serious Disasters, as well as examining the scope of the existing legislation. However, these considerations have not reached a stage where a report has been submitted for a political decision to be made. The Government seeks to proceed proactively where needed on this issue.

REPORTER: In relation to the request made by the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations, I hear that the Prime Minister talked positively about the establishment of safety standards for fisheries operations. Do you know the status of considerations on such standards?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I believe that in response to the request the Prime Minister stated something to the effect of "it will also be necessary to consider matters like that, too." Naturally the Government will take measures to ensure the safety of fish that are taken from the sea for food and also the safety of the fisheries operators themselves. Whether these safety measures will require separate standards or checks is something that the Fisheries Agency will consider in cooperation with the Nuclear Safety Commission, based on the content of the meeting that the Prime Minister held today.

REPORTER: Today trial proceedings were held against the former secretary of Mr. Ichiro Ozawa for contravention of the Political Funds Control Act by the Rikuzankai. The former president of Mizutani Construction Co., testified in court that he provided 100 million yen to the side of Mr. Ozawa in relation to a dam construction project. According to the prosecution, this provision of funds was the motive for making misstatements concerning donations. I believe that these facts that have emerged in relation to a Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Diet member will have an impact on the DPJ Administration. What adverse impact do you think there will be?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: From the perspective of the principles of the separation of powers, I do not think it is appropriate to comment from a Government perspective on an ongoing criminal trial in which the facts are contested.

REPORTER: This is an unrelated question, but it appears that today marks the 13th anniversary since the formation of the DPJ. As you were there from the inception of the DPJ, do you have any particular thoughts on this milestone?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Now that you mention it, I realize that this is the case, but as I am currently focusing on a response to the disaster and the nuclear accident, I do not have any specific thoughts at this moment, particularly given that I have only just realized this myself.

REPORTER: Regarding the pool where the irradiated water will be stored, a matter on which there have already been a number of questions, there are a few ideas under consideration with the Prefecture, but what does this mean specifically? Should it be assumed that there is still nothing that can be done?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: We will be certain to ensure the complete and safe storage of as great a quantity of contaminated water as is possible, while also advancing efforts to ensure as soon as we can that no new irradiated water is produced. Depending on the situation though, this means working with the prospect of possibly having to store even more water. Therefore, efforts are being implemented, in order, insofar as is possible - for example, we are considering a variety of matters with regard to the use of very large floating structures or the current facilities to which water has been transplanted. This situation will not be resolved by a single measure, and therefore, at all times, a variety of feasible measures are being considered in parallel and before work begins. This is where we are at present.

REPORTER: As you know, yesterday, the governors of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba submitted a jointly signed proposal to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku with a goal of avoiding power outages during the summer. This proposal includes suggestions on the introduction of a power-saving points system and the reintroduction of Eco-Points for home appliances. How do you envision this proposal being addressed?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Previously, Governor of Saitama Prefecture Kiyoshi Ueda requested and urged me to work for the creation of an energy conservation point system. I acknowledge that the governors have each provided a number of constructive proposals. Regardless of whether or not we can introduce all of these soon, in particular, in order to address the impending summer power shortage, although we must also consider cost issues, I hope to implement as much of these ideas as possible, to the extent that they are feasible and effective.

REPORTER: Sorry to bring this up again, but, I would like to discuss the incident when the President of TEPCO boarded an SDF airplane for Tokyo, but had to turn back. In the end, apparently, President Masataka Shimizu returned to TEPCO's head office at 10 a.m. the following day, wasting some time in getting there. Basically, in terms of crisis management, I really wonder about this. I would like to ask your opinion, considering the president's late arrival, whether there were any problems in terms of crisis management.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Between the evening of March 11 and the early morning of March 12, TEPCO sought out every possible solution it could implement, including whether or not it was possible to restore power; whether they could send in a generator truck, or anything else, including use of the SDF. We did not hear anything from the company at that time along the lines of "We cannot decide as we have not received final approval from the President."

REPORTER: So is it correct to understand that there were no problems in particular?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: That's what I am saying.

REPORTER: Changing the topic a bit, how do you take the fact that your name is high up on the list of candidates for Prime Minister recently in the opinion polls of each media organization? Please tell us your feelings about this.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I answered a question about this the other day too. I believe that the opinions of the people are extremely important for the furthering of national politics. And I think that public opinion polls are a major factor within our decisions of how to judge and estimate public opinion. However, I do not think that the results listed in each individual opinion poll necessarily equate to the opinion of the public, and so I would like to refrain from commenting on each individual poll.

REPORTER: I would like to ask about the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI). The NSC has so far been saying that they cannot make the measurements of this system public because the data is not robust enough. However, the Nuclear Safety Technology Center which runs the system has said that they have been providing rough data in line with the regulations set up by the NSC and that the data is sufficiently robust. I think it is possible that Chair Haruki Madarame of the NSC isn't sufficiently checking the data. What is your opinion on this? On April 25 you announced that you would be making public all current, future and past SPEEDI data, and so I would also like to here about your policy for doing so.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: On the first point, I have not really verified enough information about that comment, but I will talk about the reports I have received. First of all, SPEEDI is a simulation system which uses measurements of how much radiation is being emitted by a reactor to estimate the amounts of radiation and the effect that radiation is having at certain locations removed from the area. The report that I received at the start of this incident is that as the amount of radiation being emitted from the station could not be verified this time, SPEEDI could not, in a sense, fulfill its role of estimating the amount of radioactivity and its effect on other areas. I talked about this in the Diet today, but I have already asked if it is possible to do this process backwards - that is, if it is possible to measure the amount of radiation in surrounding areas to determine how much radiation is being released by the station. As a result, SPEEDI is currently being used for this purpose - a number of actual values from the surrounding area are being fed into the system to calculate how much radiation the station was emitting. The limitation here is that we continue to face the problem of not having the data which is supposed to act as the basis for SPEEDI calculations, that is, the amount of radiation being emitted. Recently a number of different measurements have been announced. I did not receive any reports about these measurements beforehand, so I looked into them myself. Basically, although we don't know the amount of radiation actually being emitted, the NSC has basically been using hypothetical values for each substance and taking weather information to calculate virtually how a substance might spread if a certain amount was released and there was a given in terms of a certain wind direction and so forth. This isn't the intended purpose of SPEEDI, but I asked that the organization to announce these values anyway, and so they have started doing so. It seems that for instance, if we set a virtual value of "1," we can simulate how substances might spread. But this is only a virtual simulation. I think this is the reason for the difference in the comments. On the other point, if I were to talk about exactly how we will release information, I would need to talk about some very technical matters, so I ask that you redirect your inquiry to the NSC, which is handling these announcements, or MEXT.

REPORTER: Going back to the topic of compensation, Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Yuhei Sato sent a request letter to the Prime Minister on April 21 in which he stated that his municipality should be eligible for compensation as well since the nuclear incident has forced it to move its offices to a new location. Until now, we have been discussing compensation for the public or for the agricultural industry. I don't think that anyone has considered giving compensation to local governments. What is your opinion of the Governor's request?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think that a policy on that will be formulated by the Review Panel on Conflicts over Compensation for Damages by Nuclear Power. In a general, legal sense, if a relationship of causation can be established showing that loss was incurred as a result of this incident, I don't think it matters if the party suffering such loss is a public or private entity. It is of course true that many Village and Town offices were greatly affected by this incident. The Panel is currently considering what should be done for such municipalities and prioritizing support for those that need it most. I think that the order of priorities established by the Panel will be the basis for actual payment operations. I also think that actually there will be a number of policy measures put into place that local governments will be able to take advantage of. We will respond to requests following such sequence.