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Fukushima Gov Yuhei Sato on Thursday said that he will not seek reelection in the Oct 26 gubernatorial election.
Sato, 66, made the announcement just four days after committing the prefecture to accept the temporary storage of nuclear waste from the March 11, 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident.
Sato has been under tremendous pressure from the central government for many months to accept the plan and told a news conference earlier this week that it was an agonising decision. Sato agreed to the plan after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government offered subsidies worth more than 300 billion yen.
© Japan Today
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MarkX
I guess he finally got his asking price, and now he will 'take the money and run"! What cushy job has the gov't secured for him after he finally allowed the nuclear waste to be stored in Fukushima?
turbotsat
A region already under mandatory radiation quarantine would seem to be the perfect place to store nuclear waste. Don't have to worry about tracking the stuff everywhere. Could you really trust TEPCO to transport the stuff AWAY from Fukushima with no problems?
Utrack
Tepco's continuing contamination of the area around the plant and the waterfront will probably devastate the economy of the area for years to come so 300 billion yen probably will not be enough in the long run... Even if Tepco decided to entomb the plant and the oceanfront from 3 miles out and 5 miles of coast line... It would be a help but Tepco has let the contamination flow for over 4 years now and the affects are showing ... It's sad that Construction Companies have more favor with JAEA than JAEA doing their Jobs by way of containment of the disaster... Instead their buddies at Kojima Corp get to propose a multi billion yen Icewall project that is going nowhere because the water they are "trying" to freeze is too hot because it's radioactive.... The Next Fukushima Governor should propose JAEA take the cheap way out and entomb the miles of Fukushima Daiichi land and water that is too contaminated for Man...
Cricky
Seriously!!! 300 billion yen buys a governor it's national news and there is no outcry, no discussion about corruption? It's not even sneaky just blatant. I agree there is no better place to store the waiste but to be paying the governor to agree then have him resign with little outcry (as yet) says a lot about a country run by the LDP for 60+ years.
Utrack
I thought the 300 billion yen went to the area as subsidies... I must correct my earlier post of the over 4 year ongoing disaster to 3 and a half years ongoing disaster.... That I hope can end via entombment of the plant and it's surroundings.. Along with advancements in technology for Decontamination of the land, the People and the water...
Cricky
My mistake, the previous governor had to step down due to corruption this one just left? After oking more money?
toshiko
He must be sick and tired of him concentrating on this issue instead of working on Fukushima-ken issues. This is worse than when Aizu people lost the last war against West forces more than 200 years ago, although they are used to treatments by Japan's central government since then.