Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

• The reconstruction budget for radiation decontamination

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I would like to ask a question concerning one of the articles featured on the front page of today's Asahi Shimbun. The article states that more than 60% of the reconstruction budget, a total of 255 billion yen, allocated by the national government to the municipal governments of Fukushima Prefecture for radiation decontamination, remains unused. It seems to me that this is contradictory to what the Abe Government says in its public pledge and during the campaign tours, where it was said that the decontamination efforts will be accelerated. Could you inform us of the facts and give us your thoughts on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: As for the budget for decontamination, it is premised that the spending of the budget will be spread over multiple years via the Fukushima Prefecture fund, which means that it will not all be spent this year and instead used over multiple years. As for the use of budgeted funds, I understand they will be spent as per the Act on Special Measures Concerning Handling of Radioactive Pollution, and the guidelines of the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation. I believe that the Government does not take into consideration the desires of the Tokyo Electric Power Company in relation to the restrictions and use of the budget. However, this article suggests otherwise, so we will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if any problems are found, we will make improvements. Regardless, the stance of the Abe Cabinet is that the Government will work as one to accelerate decontamination efforts. Therefore we will investigate the matter to ensure that we are all on the same page.

(Abridged)