Japan's ex-PM frightened by nuclear crisis

29 May 2012, 10:50 am   -   Source: AAP
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Mr Kan said nuclear officials sent from government offices and the utility operating the plant as his advisers were not useful, and he never received the kind of information he needed. (Getty)

Mr Kan said nuclear officials sent from government offices and the utility operating the plant as his advisers were not useful, and he never received the kind of information he needed. (Getty)

The former Japanese prime minister says he felt helpless during last year's nuclear disaster and lacked experts capable of giving him guidance.

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Japan's leader felt fearful and helpless during last year's nuclear disaster and lacked experts capable of giving him guidance, he has testified in his first response to a public inquiry into the crisis.

Naoto Kan resigned as prime minister in September after being criticised for government failures during the disaster.

He told the parliamentary panel on Monday he felt afraid when nuclear officials kept failing to explain conditions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where three reactors melted down following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

Kan also said the nuclear emergency preparedness law, set up in 1999 after a fatal accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant, did not address a severe accident requiring the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, as in Fukushima.

"Everything anticipated in the law was inadequate, and we had to go through all kinds of troubles that we didn't need," he said. For instance, the plant's off-site crisis management centre, which had no protection against radiation or back-up power, had to be abandoned.

Kan said nuclear officials sent from government offices and the utility operating the plant as his advisers were not useful, and he never received the kind of information he needed.

Japan's main regulatory body, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), was particularly incapable, he said.

"I was frightened and felt helpless," he said. "You can't expect a nuclear expert to be prime minister or cabinet minister, so we need top regulatory officials to provide expertise and help us. We didn't have those people."

NISA's top officials, who are not nuclear experts, have acknowledged the need to improve their resources.

The government led by his successor, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, is desperately trying to restart two reactors in western Japan to curb the summer's power crunch, though the process has been delayed due to opposition from nearby towns, a move seen as backpedalling from Kan's push for a nuclear-free society.

Some 100,000 residents from around the plant have evacuated due to radiation contamination in the area.

Japan declared stability at the plant in December, but it runs on makeshift equipment and its earthquake resistance is a concern.

Officials say it will take about 40 years to decommission the plant.

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