information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
19 Février 2015
February 18, 2015
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150218p2g00m0dm026000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has become a resolute antinuclear campaigner in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns, likened nuclear plants in Japan to "time bombs" in reiterating his opposition to nuclear power Tuesday.
"Nuclear plants are like time bombs. They are never safe" in a country where earthquakes are frequent and active volcanoes abound, said Koizumi, who served as prime minister between 2001 and 2006 and retired as a parliamentarian in 2009, in a speech in Tokyo.
Also criticizing the government's push to restart reactors that have cleared new safety regulations, he said, "The government says Japan has the world's toughest safety standards for nuclear plants, but doesn't explain in what points so are they in comparison with those of the United States. It looks too out of it."
All 48 commercial reactors in Japan are currently offline, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for the restart of reactors that have cleared the tighter regulations introduced after the Fukushima crisis, with a total of four reactors obtaining safety clearance from the regulator.
Koizumi established an entity to promote renewable energy last year together with another former prime minister, Morihiro Hosokawa.