Words of wisdom ?

March 27, 2012

Noda: World should share lessons from Fukushima

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120327_24.html

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has called on leaders from around the world to share and pass on lessons the country learned from last year's catastrophic nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Noda was speaking during a working lunch at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Noda said Japan learned 3 lessons from the Fukushima accident --- the importance of imagining the unimaginable, of respecting judgments by people on-the-ground, and that security can be achieved only through constant effort.

The prime minister said these lessons can also be applied to terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities.

He said Japan had been shackled by the myth that nuclear plants are absolutely safe. He stressed that all those who are responsible for nuclear safety measures should be aware there is no such thing as absolute safety.

Noda said what hampers efforts to prevent accidents is the loss of memory. He said the most difficult, but most important task for leaders is to pass on the memories of disasters.