Kan Vows to Push for Nuclear-Free Society at Hiroshima Ceremony
August 05, 2011, 9:34 PM EDTBy Sachiko Sakamaki and Yuriy Humber
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed in Hiroshima to cut nuclear-power use, speaking at the atomic- bombed city’s first commemorative ceremony since meltdowns in Fukushima reactors led to widespread radioactive contamination.
“The human race shouldn’t forget the horror that fell on Hiroshima 66 years ago, and it should never be repeated,” Kan said today at the Peace Memorial. “I will take sweeping measures to secure safety, reduce reliance on atomic power, and seek a society that doesn’t depend on nuclear energy.”
Kan attended the event in an environment of rising public mistrust of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster, the world’s worst in 25 years. More than 70 percent of respondents in a Kyodo News survey published July 25 said they support phasing out atomic energy. The “safety myth” of nuclear power should be reconsidered, Kan said in the speech broadcast on NHK Television.
About 160,000 people were forced to evacuate near Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Dai-Ichi plant after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami cut power to cooling systems, leading to meltdowns. Radioactive contamination has led to restrictions on shipments of fish and farm products and the government last week widened a ban on shipping beef to encompass 13 percent of the nation’s cattle.
Hiroshima Mayor
Speaking before Kan, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged Japan to take concrete steps toward changing its energy policy to focus on renewable sources of electricity “as quickly as possible.”
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. aircraft Enola Gay on Aug. 6, 1945 killed an estimated 140,000 people in the western Japanese city that year. A bomb dropped three days later on Nagasaki, in southwestern Japan, killed more than 70,000 people initially, according to city records.
Kan reiterated a pledge made last year to honor the Japanese constitution and adhere strictly to three principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons into the country.
Last year Kan also said in a post-ceremony press conference that given the reality of nuclear proliferation that nuclear deterrence continued to be necessary for Japan, Kyodo News reported at the time.
Japan doesn’t possess nuclear weapons and relies on the U.S. to provide for its defense against possible nuclear attack.
Kan’s pledge last week to cut the country’s reliance on nuclear energy envisions a gradual shift to alternate sources to avoid shortages and higher prices. Japan will move away from atomic power in three stages, the first being the next three years, then by 2020 and 2050, he said.
Japan could meet only 90 percent of electricity demand next summer without its 54 nuclear reactors and costs could rise by about 20 percent, or 3 trillion yen ($38 billion) annually, National Strategy Minister Koichiro Gemba said July 29.
--With assistance from Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo. Editor: Patrick Harrington, Jim McDonald
To contact the reporters on this story: Sachiko Sakamaki in Tokyo at ssakamaki1@bloomberg.net; Yuriy Humber in Tokyo at yhumber@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Patrick Harrington at pharrington8@bloomberg.net
