Fukushima leader blasts nuclear waste site plan

A key business leader has lashed out at a government plan to construct an interim storage facility for radioactive waste in Fukushima Prefecture, site of an ongoing nuclear crisis, rather than in Tokyo.

Toshio Seya, a former banker and head of the Fukushima Chamber of Commerce and Industry, asked during a regular news conference on Aug. 30: "Why doesn't the government build (the proposed facility to store radioactive waste) in Tokyo's Odaiba district? After all, the beneficiary of nuclear power is Tokyo."

Seya was clearly caught off-guard by the decision made by the Kan administration in its waning days.

Naoto Kan on Aug. 27, three days before he stepped down as prime minister, unveiled the government policy during a meeting with Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato.

Seya, former chairman of the Regional Banks Association of Japan, said he wanted to sound a warning against the price people will have to pay for the nuclear power accident in Fukushima Prefecture caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.

However, Seya said he also accepted as a fundamental principle that waste should be stored in the area where it was created.

For this reason, he said, "The only viable option is to move (the radioactive waste) to the premises of the (quake-stricken) Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant."

Seya and other local leaders became alarmed about the government's proposal because it was made so close to Kan's departure.

Seya blasted the the government for proposing it out of the blue on Aug. 27. He was especially critical of the lack of discussions on the issue despite weekly meetings between Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of handling the nuclear accident, and local leaders.

"There was no discussion on the storage sites," Seya said. "The government's approach is not fair."

The crippled nuclear power plant is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., a utility that serves Tokyo and surrounding prefectures.