Ex-Japan PM ‘regrets’ recommending nuclear technology to Erdoğan

ROME – Doğan News Agency

The Japanese prime minister in office when the Fukushima nuclear disaster took place in March 2011 has said he regrets recommending Japanese nuclear technology to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, citing the risks posed by earthquakes and terrorism.

“Before the Fukushima accident, I advised then-Prime Minister Erdoğan to use Japanese nuclear technology, as I was sure of its quality. Now I understand that these words were a total mistake,” said Naoto Kan. 

“A country like Turkey, which is at risk of seismic activity and terrorism, should give up nuclear power plants,” Kan added.

Referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Kan said terrorists could launch a similar attack on a nuclear plant and Turkey needed to consider this possibility. 

Five years ago, one of the worst earthquakes in history triggered a 10-meter high tsunami that crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station causing multiple meltdowns. Nearly 19,000 people were killed or left missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods.

A Franco-Japanese group is due to construct Turkey’s second nuclear power plant in the northern province of Sinop.

Kan, who resigned after the Fukushima incident, said the safest nuclear technology was “no nuclear technology.” 

“I have been convinced that not possessing any nuclear power plants is the safest energy policy,” he said.

Stressing that the disaster was a result of a “human error” as well as a natural incident, Kan said adequate preparations for such a situation had not been made. 

“Physical reasons, the unpreparedness of the facilities and the lack of appropriate policies increased the [dimension] of the disaster,” he said. 

Kan said he believed the world and Japan’s future energy policies would focus more on the expansion of renewable energy, which should be sought to prevent irreparable damage.