![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en-renew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_6377-e1444369569342.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAt a press conference upon arriving at METI for the first time after assuming office, Minister Hayashi repeated that there would be \u201cno recovery of Japan without reconstruction of Fukushima.\u201d He expressed his determination to accelerate the Fukushima effort and to attempt to support the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants, the premise of reconstruction.<\/p>\n
Regarding the Ikata-3 NPP, owned and operated by Shikoku Electric Power Co., and where responses to the local community are in the final stage toward the resumption of operation, Hayashi said that he wanted to visit the plant \u201cat the appropriate time\u201d in coordination with the governor and other related parties.<\/p>\n
A visit to the Ikata-3 was part of the eight-item request to the national government on safety measures made by the governor of Ehime Prefecture. The previous METI Minister Miyazawa had replied in writing on September 11 that he \u201cwould coordinate his visit for the appropriate time.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the subject of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal, the new METI minister said that the waste issue \u201cexists independently\u201d of NPP restarts, and that \u201cin any case, we will work on a resolution during our generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in response to a question on the selection of HLW disposal sites, he said that there was \u201cno schedule,\u201d indicating his intention to listen carefully to the opinions of local communities at each stage of the surveying to be carried out. He also said that the construction of new NPPs was \u201cnot being contemplated at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another fresh face in the reshuffled Abe Cabinet is Tsuyoshi Takagi, member of the House of Representatives from Fukui Prefecture, who became reconstruction minister. At a press conference at the prime minister\u2019s official residence in Tokyo, he said it was \u201cno exaggeration\u201d that he had lived with nuclear power for 40 or 50 years.<\/p>\n
He went on to stress that the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs \u201cmust be taken seriously,\u201d adding that next year (2016)\u2014the fifth year since the giant earthquake that struck northeast Japan\u2014would be a \u201ccritical juncture.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the reconstruction of the various prefectures in the region, he said that he hoped that Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures would soon be entering \u201cthe second stage,\u201d while \u201cFukushima unfortunately has not come that far.\u201d Takagi said that it was his intention to strive for reconstruction measures that matched the needs of each region.<\/p>\n
![\"Ms.](\"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en-renew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/marukawa-ta-e1444369939858.jpg\")
<\/a>At another press conference at the official residence, Tamayo Marukawa, a member of the House of Councillors and the newly-appointed environmental minister and minister of state for nuclear emergency preparedness, spoke of her commitment to \u201cgive my all\u201d on the Fukushima reconstruction challenges of decontamination, waste treatment and residents\u2019 health management.<\/p>\n