Ex-mayor raps government for lack of preparedness for nuclear disasters

Former Mayor Tatsuya Murakami, who dealt with a nuclear accident as chief of Ibaraki Prefecture’s Tokai village in 1999, has criticized the central government over its lack of preparations for such a disaster.

“The central government only thinks about nuclear energy use under the assumption that accidents do not happen. It doesn’t put efforts in deciding what to do if an accident occurs,” said Murakami, 81, who oversaw the evacuation of local residents from the village 25 years ago.

The criticality accident, caused by improper handling of nuclear fuel, happened at a facility of nuclear fuel-processing company JCO in Tokai on Sept. 30, 1999. Two workers died and over 660 local residents were exposed to radiation as a result of the accident.