[Ryusaku Tanaka] Yomiuri Goes All Out for Personnel of “Nuclear Regulatory Commission”

Masatoshi Takeshita

* Mr. Ryusaku Tanaka is a freelance journalist.  He needs financial support to continue his news gathering activities. 

English translation of a Japanese article: Ryusaku Tanaka Journal – July 25, 2012

Yomiuri Goes All Out for Personnel of “Nuclear Regulatory Commission”

On 20th morning in front of the prime minister’s official residence, a meeting to protest against restarting nuclear power plants was held.  Some media reported the personnel of Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

= In front of the prime minister’s official residence on 20th evening.  Photo by Suwa =

We have never seen such personnel that show sheer contempt for the people of Japan.  I wonder what the lesson of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident was.  Mr. Shunichi Tanaka, the former chairman of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, reportedly has been unofficially appointed as the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission slated to be established in September.

The government was going to propose the personnel to the Diet on 20th.  However, this information was leaked to some media (Yomiuri and Nikkei) and the LDP responded strongly against them.  For this reason, proposal of the personnel is behind the schedule.  Yomiuri and Nikkei reported the personnel in the morning edition on 20th and other newspapers followed suit in the evening edition.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is located superior to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency with sole responsibility for public administration on nuclear regulation, which has been decentralized among the Cabinet Office (Nuclear Safety Commission), the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (Radiation Monitoring Department).  The chairman of the Commission with the greatest authority, therefore, will exert considerable influence over restarting of nuclear power plants that electric power companies are planning for.

Of all others, Mr. Tanaka, who played a central role in promotion for nuclear power generation, was unofficially appointed as the chairman.  He held “secret meetings” with electric power companies and served as the acting chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission with which a criminal complaint has been filed.  Mr. Tanaka, as chairman of the Compensation for Nuclear Damage Review Board, also repeated remarks favorable to TEPCO.  He is notorious for his remark “It is not necessary to decontaminate the areas exposed to less than 20 mSv of radiation.”  His position is equivalent to village mayor of so-called Nuclear Power Village.

Don’t underestimate him.  Even if a change of power should occur in the next general election, we cannot do anything.  Being an independent commission, we cannot have a say in the Commission during his five-year term of office.  The Nuclear Power Village will desperately make the government approve the personnel.  Yomiuri Shimbun splashed a story “Hurry to decide the personnel!” in the editorial.  The fact speaks for itself.

(Photo)

Objection to the personnel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Made

at an emergency press conference

= in the House of Representatives Hall on 24th   Photo by Tanaka =

On 24th, residents of Fukushima Prefecture, scholars and environmental groups held an emergency press conference to object to the insane personnel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the Diet.  Mass media, which helped the Nuclear Power Village manipulate public opinion, was there not to gather information for writing articles but to inspect the “degree of revulsion” against the personnel.

With knowledge of it, participants thoroughly condemned the personnel which shamelessly ignore public opinion. 

“We can say that this is the same personnel by which a leader of a motorcycle gang is appointed as the chief of motorcycle gang crackdown headquarters,” Prof. Toshiro Kojima of Aoyama Gakuin University, who engages in relief of pollution victims, made an extreme remark.

Ms. Sachiko Sato, the representative of “Fukushima Network to Protect Children from Radiation,” represented the indignation of local people and said, “Shunichi Yamashita, vice president of Fukushima Medical University, was appointed as a radiation advisor of Fukushima Prefecture before we knew it,  This personnel is the same.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the Nuclear Energy Promotion Commission.”

Mayor Katsutaka Idokawa, Futaba Town, appropriately pointed out.  “What should we learn from the Fukushima disaster?  What should we appeal for?  Without carefully reconsidering it, democracy of Japan will disappear.”

A numerous number of people moved to western Japan to avoid radiation contamination.  People who still continue to stay in the Tokyo metropolitan area are frightened by health damage to their children and themselves.  It is hard to say how much compensation money will swell up.  For the time being, however, it will be shouldered by the government.  Resources are our taxpayers’ money.

Unless we objected to the personnel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a loud voice, we would be slavers of electric power companies for the rest of our life.

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