Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

• The leakage of contaminated groundwater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

(Abridged)

REPORTER: With high concentrations of radioactive substances being detected from the observation well near the sea by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), TEPCO has acknowledged the leakage of contaminated groundwater for the first time. However, it has taken considerable time for TEPCO to acknowledge this and take measures. What are your thoughts regarding the modality of TEPCO?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: The Prime Minister and the Government take very seriously the current situation, that is, the report which has been received that groundwater and seawater inside the port had seeped back and forth and that contaminated groundwater may have leaked into the seawater. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been requested to swiftly deal with this matter. Also, on July 7, METI has been instructed to speed up the measures to prevent the outflow of contaminated water. I understand that TEPCO has reported about the injection of liquid glass in July. In any case, the Government will give guidance to ensure that outflow prevention measures are taken with promptness. With regard to the issue of TEPCO's delayed release of the data, in fact, some data had been submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on the 18th. I understand that the outflow into the sea could not be confirmed from this data. I understand that when TEPCO had all of the data in their possession on the 22nd, it reported the data to METI and NRA. In any case, we believe that such data should be released quickly, and we would like to have METI give appropriate guidance to TEPCO.

(Abridged)