Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I have a question relating to the restarting of operations at nuclear power stations. Yesterday Minister Hosono appeared on the NHK program "Sunday Debate," in which he stated with regard to stress tests that he is seeking the involvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that the aim is to implement the tests from the start of the new year. If this is the anticipated schedule for the restarting of operations at nuclear power stations, does this mean that the Government's aim of achieving this target by the end of the year is no longer feasible?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I believe that what Minister Hosono said on television yesterday was probably consistent with what he has been saying to date, namely that once a stress test report has been submitted it will firstly be checked from various perspectives by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), after which it will be subjected to further checks and confirmation by the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC). In addition, opinions of domestic experts will then be sought, and in order to utilize knowledge available in the international community, international seminars will be held with the participation of overseas experts. In actual fact such a seminar has recently been held. Furthermore, the stance that has been taken to date has been to consider the dispatch of domestic experts to observe the status of stress tests to Europe, as well as the content of the IAEA review concerning the implementation methods for stress tests in Japan. Minister Hosono may have stated an outlook that the IAEA review will take place in the new year, but the schedule for this review is currently being coordinated and it has not yet been confirmed that it will take place in the new year. Therefore I believe that the minister was merely stating his own outlook with regard to the schedule.

(Abridged)