Press Conference by the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER: Concerning the possible nuclear fission at Reactor No. 2 of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, can you tell us what the Government knows at present and its thoughts on what impact this will have on the roadmap toward bringing the accident under stable control?

DEPUTY CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SAITO: As you may be aware, a joint press conference by the TEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) is already in progress. Therefore, I believe news agencies will be able to obtain information about the details from this joint press conference. Regarding Reactor No. 2 of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that has also been reported in the media, what we currently understand is that yesterday, analyses of the emitted gas sampled by the gas management system of the containment vessel of Reactor No. 2 of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station showed possible detection of short-half-life radionuclide, Xenon-133 and 135. However, no significant variation has so far been confirmed of the temperature and the pressure in the reactor and the figures of the monitoring posts, and as a precautionary measure, TEPCO injected 10 tons of boric acid solution. As to what caused the detection of the short-half-life radionuclide, there are a number of possibilities, including the possibility of a nuclear fission reaction occurring and the possibility of erroneous detection. At any event, the Government will continue to collect information and confirm the facts. I would like to refer to the press conference that is going on right now and listen to the explanation of TEPCO and NISA.

(Abridged)