#Radioactive Japan: LDP's Policy Chief Sanae Takaichi Declars "No One Has Died from Fukushima Nuclear Accident, We Have No Choice But Use Nuclear Plants"

That's how Asahi Shinbun reports. It is hard to tell for certain without the full context, but I think she meant "no one died from acute radiation sickness caused by the nuclear accident", just like many foreign experts including former NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko (though now a changed man, it seems, after having visited Fukushima in 2012) have said over the past two years.

People in Japan who read the Asahi article are outraged. Several workers have died at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant while working to contain the accident. There are people who committed suicide after the nuclear accident because of radiation contamination ruining their crops and cattle. There are people who died of hunger and thirst inside the 20 kilometer evacuation zone, as officials, being bureaucratic officials, prohibited the family members from entering the zone to rescue their parents, siblings, relatives. (Why these people nonetheless followed the officials' orders is another issue.) That zone wouldn't have been set if there had been no nuclear accident. There are people who died on the way to distant shelters, who died at shelters for lack of food and heat, and who wouldn't have needed to be taken to the shelters, spending 10 or more hours on an uncomfortable bus, if there had been no nuclear accident.

But they certainly did not die from acute radiation sickness, for sure.

From Asahi Shinbun (6/17/2013):

「原発事故による死亡者は出てない」自民・高市政調会長

"No one has died from the nuclear accident", says LDP's Policy Bureau Chief Takeichi

自民党の高市早苗政調会長は１７日、神戸市の党兵庫県連の会合で、「事故を起こした東京電力福島第一原発を含めて、事故によって死亡者が出ている状況ではない。安全性を最大限確保しながら活用するしかない」と原発再稼働を目指す考えを強調した。

Sanae Takaichi, Policy Bureau Chief of LDP, said in a meeting of Hyogo Prefecture LDP in Kobe City on June 17, "It is not that there has been a death from the nuclear accident, including at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. We have no choice but utilize nuclear power plants as long as we secure maximum safety", emphasizing her (the party's) intention to restart nuclear power plants.

　原発事故により多くの避難者が出ている現状で「死亡者が出ていない」との理由を挙げて、再稼働方針を強調する姿勢には、批判が出る可能性もある。

Emphasizing the policy to restart nuke plants because "no one has died" may draw criticism, when there are many people displaced because of the nuclear accident.

　自民党は参院選公約の最終案で、再稼働について「地元自治体の理解を得られるよう最大限の努力をする」と推進する考えを盛り込んでいる。高市氏は産業競争力の維持には電力の安定供給が不可欠としたうえで、「原発は廃炉まで考えると莫大（ばくだい）なお金がかかるが、稼働している間のコストは比較的安い」と語った。

The final draft of LDP's campaign promise for the coming Upper House election includes the push for restart of nuclear power plants by saying the party will "make maximum effort to win the understanding of local municipalities". Ms. Takaichi said the stable supply of power is indispensable for maintaining the competitiveness of industries, and that "a nuclear power plant costs enormous amount of money if we think about the cost of decommissioning, but while it is operating the cost is relatively cheap."

Her boss, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been busy peddling Japanese nuclear power technologies and plants in Asia and central Europe, saying his country has learned the lessons from Fukushima and the country's nuclear technology is better than ever.

In other words, après moi, le déluge.

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