Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have two announcements to make.

The first is about the shipping restrictions related to the nuclear incidents.

Firstly, regarding the setting of shipping restrictions, the Government has issued instructions to the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture concerning the imposition of restrictions on the shipment of tea produced in certain areas in Kanagawa Prefecture, Sagamihara City, Matsuda Town, and Yamakita Town.

On the other hand, we have also issued instructions to the governor of Fukushima Prefecture concerning the lifting of shipping restrictions on non-bulbous leafy vegetables including spinach, and turnips produced in certain areas of the Prefecture.

For further details about both of these changes, please direct your questions to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).

Next, the Government has compiled ideas about water quality with respect to radioactive materials at swimming beaches. I will now report the results to you.

Many people have been worried about radioactive materials at swimming beaches, and recently local governments have been implementing water quality monitoring at these beaches. The results of monitoring have been compiled by the Ministry of the Environment. As of today, results are "below detectable limits" at all but one of 135 locations surveyed. The one location at which radioactive materials were detected is Nakoso Beach in Iwaki City. There is no plan to open the beach for swimming there in the current fiscal year. Radioactive cesium there was measured at 13Bq/l. This is quite a low level compared to the current provisional standard value of 200Bq/l for drinking water. It is also very low when compared to the standard value estimated for swimming areas based on the assumption that there will be no further increases in radiation, which is 50Bq/l. The Government has judged that swimming at that beach would pose no problem to human health. The Government intends to continue to closely watch radiation levels as a part of water quality monitoring for swimming areas, but let me repeat that the measurements for radioactive materials have been found "below detectable limits" everywhere except for one location in Iwaki City this time. So although we will continue to implement thorough monitoring and closely watch the radiation levels, I can assure everyone that no harm will be posed to human health by swimming in any of these areas, in any case.

Q&As

REPORTER: About the swimming beaches you discussed in your opening statement, Nakoso Beach has not met the necessary standard. Was the decision to not open it this year made due to safety considerations?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I think this is a matter that must be judged by Iwaki City. However, even if the swimming beach is not opened, swimming in the sea is still possible if people go to the sea to go swimming. In a sense, these measurements were made for the safety and peace of mind of city residents. We are asking each prefecture to do studies of all of the swimming beaches except those inside Fukushima Prefecture, and the details about this, which swimming beaches were tested and when, will be announced shortly by the Ministry of the Environment.

REPORTER: You said 135 locations but it is not very clear what that means. Are we to understand that this means that it is mostly safe to go to the sea anywhere in Japan?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Yes, we have done thorough testing of Ibaraki, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa, even inside Fukushima Prefecture. We are not sure about faraway places like Niigata on the Sea of Japan side, Miyazaki in Kyushu, and so on, but we have thoroughly tested nearby places at least, and inside Fukushima Prefecture the only place radioactive materials were detected is Nakoso. We have also had tests done in many places in Ibaraki Prefecture, so in that sense I think we can conclude that there are no concerns regarding this matter anywhere in Japan.

REPORTER: Related to that, you said that you intend to continue watching the levels of radioactivity closely, but does this mean you are saying that going forward you will carry out regular monitoring at those 135 locations? Or will monitoring be sporadic?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Firstly, regarding my preceding comment about everywhere in Japan, we have not made measurements for Fukushima Prefecture except in Nakoso, so basically we understand that it is not anticipated that the swimming beaches in Fukushima Prefecture will be opened, and my previous answer was based on that assumption. Regarding this, we intend to consult with the Ministry of the Environment and each prefecture, and proceed so as to ensure that sufficient peace of mind can be ensured.

REPORTER: Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chairperson Kazuo Shii stated in a press conference after the talks you had with him this morning, that you commented on resuming operations at the nuclear station by saying "we cannot restart operations at the station if the Governor says he is absolutely opposed to that." Are we to understand therefore that you expressed the perception that regarding the primary judgment about whether or not to restart operations at the station the first priority will be given to the judgment of one prefectural governor, despite the fact that the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda has produced guidelines requesting the restarting of operations at nuclear power stations?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have watched the media reports about the comments from Committee Chair Shii, and those regarding comments during my morning press conference on whether or not the position of Minister for Reconstruction will be a dedicated post or not, all the while thinking that the Japanese language is quite difficult. The reality is that we, led on this by the Minister Economy, Trade and Industry, have been unable to obtain a certain degree of understanding from certain governors, so it is quite difficult socially to open stations or to put them back into operation. In this context, we are endeavoring both to ensure safety itself and receive sufficient understanding concerning our explanations of this. As long as we have not received the understanding of each governor on this issue, it will be quite difficult to move forward. This is why I stated that we are now making efforts under the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to gain understanding.

REPORTER: Let me just confirm this point. Your perception is that putting stations back into operation would be difficult if prefectural governors are opposed to it. So it is just as Mr. Shii said in his briefing then?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I've said this again and again. The national government cannot really unilaterally restart operations at any stations if the governors, and moreover the local people, are opposed to that. Accordingly, we are now working to gain the understanding of each region on this issue, starting with prefectural governors.