Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� November, 2002

Nuclear Energy Disaster Prevention Drill Thursday, November 7, 2002 A Nuclear Energy Disaster Prevention Drill was conducted. This Drill is required under the Special Law on Nuclear Disaster Countermeasures established as a result of lessons learned from the criticality accident at Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture in 1999. For the purposes of the drill this year, it was assumed that an accident had occurred at a nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture and there was a danger that radioactive material could be released from the plant. In response, Fukui Prefecture and the national government jointly conducted a drill taking a series of measures to ensure the safety of local residents. Immediately following the initiation of the drill, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the Prime Minister's Official Residence received a report of the occurrence of a nuclear energy emergency from the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Minister of State for Disaster Management and straight away issued the Declaration of Nuclear Emergency Situation. Prime Minister Koizumi then held a video conference with Governor of Fukui Prefecture Yukio Kurita, serving as head of the Local Headquarters for Disaster Control, and others, confirming the situation and instructing them to take all possible measures. This was followed by a meeting of the Government Countermeasure Headquarters for Nuclear Disaster at which the relevant ministries reported on the responses being implemented, and the necessary Government policies were decided. The drill was carried out on a large scale and included the evacuation of children from schools within a two-kilometer radius of nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture, with a total of 4,400 participants including local governments, businesses and residents.