Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga

A joint meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters and Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council
CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA:

(Abridged)

Today, following the Cabinet Meeting, a joint meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters and Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council was held. The Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters finalized its basic policy on achieving a fundamental solution for the contaminated water leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The Government will from now on come to the fore and is committed to resolving this issue; we will arrange a Cabinet meeting with the relevant ministers and strengthen the system in order to physically stop the leaks. The policy also includes fiscal measures, and some finances will be allocated from Government reserves. The Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council finalized its policy to enable the entire Government to provide support on this matter in order to fundamentally improve and enhance the evacuation plans of the municipalities surrounding the nuclear power station. Furthermore, the meeting also approved the plan to conduct a Nuclear Energy Disaster Prevention Drill, the first to be undertaken since the accident, at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima sometime early next month. Prime Minister Abe instructed the whole Government to give its utmost effort. For more details on this topic, please contact the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or the Secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

(Abridged)

Q&As

• The leakage of contaminated water from TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

(Abridged)

REPORTER: Changing topics, going back to the earlier topic of the contaminated water issue, can you once again explain the objective of compiling the basic policy? Also, I believe there were some financial measures. Can you say what its approximate total amount will be?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: The urgency of the contaminated water issue has been increasing day by day, and the Government feels that it needs to make all efforts to deal with this issue. What the Government did today was express its intention to come to the fore to resolve this issue without leaving it up to TEPCO. As this is an urgent issue which requires measures of a high level of technical difficulty, the Government has decided to take financial measures based on our view that the Government needs to come to the fore to deal with this. At these press conferences, I have stated that even by injecting reserve funds the Government needs to take emergency and drastic measures. In this context, the Government has decided to construct an impermeable wall to prevent the flow of groundwater by the frozen soil method. The Government believes that the development of a high-performance Advanced Liquid Processing System will require around 47 billion yen in operational costs. The Government will mobilize the funds. As this is an emergency, the Government's stance is that the system will be developed even if this entails the use of reserve funds. While this is presently under review, the Government is ready to act immediately, even if this requires the use of around 21 billion yen in reserve funds. For details, I ask that you direct your questions to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

(Abridged)