Leakage is not under control

September  13, 2013

TEPCO official denies Abe’s claim that nuclear crisis is 'under control'

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201309130063

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A senior official of the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Sept. 13 disputed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's assertion to International Olympic Committee members that the Fukushima crisis is under control, which helped Tokyo land the 2020 Summer Games.

“We regard the current situation as not being under control,” Kazuhiko Yamashita, an executive officer of Tokyo Electric Power Co., told a meeting in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. The meeting was held by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan’s task force on radioactive water issues.

The comment contradicts the well-publicized assurance that Abe gave at an IOC general meeting in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7, before Tokyo was selected as the host city for the 2020 Games.

"Let me assure you the situation is under control," Abe told the IOC.

Hironori Nakanishi, director-general for Energy and Technological Policy at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, attended the meeting in Koriyama on Sept. 13 and promised he will make his best efforts to resolve the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

“From now on, we will work hard to control the situation,” Nakanishi said.

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

TEPCO official: Leakage 'not under control'

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130913_36.html

A senior official from the Tokyo Electric Power Company has acknowledged that the radioactive water leakage at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant is not under control.

The government's top spokesman later said the assessment does not contradict Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's statement, delivered internationally, that the situation in Fukushima is under control.

TEPCO official Kazuhiko Yamashita was speaking at a hearing on Friday in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. The session was organized by the opposition Democratic Party, with officials from the government and TEPCO taking part.

Yamashita apologized for the radioactive water leaks, saying that what's happening now goes beyond TEPCO's assumptions.
A lawmaker asked if Yamashita agrees with Abe's statement made last Saturday at a general meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires.

Yamashita replied that he believes the current situation is not under control.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga later told a news conference that he heard Yamashita made the comment after being pressed several times for an answer.

Suga said government officials have confirmed with TEPCO that Yamashita was speaking in reference to independent incidents, including a leak of radioactive wastewater from a storage tank at the plant.

Suga said that even if such independent incidents take place, multi-layered steps will be taken to prevent the radioactive water from contaminating the ocean.

Suga said it is true that tainted water has leaked from a tank. But he said workers' patrols of storage tanks have been increased from once to 4 times per day, as part of all-out efforts to urgently deal with the problem.