01 October 1999
Excerpts: President Clinton on Japan Nuclear Accident
(Clinton offers Japan help in nuclear accident) (660)
The United States stands ready to help Japan in any way necessary to
cope with the nuclear accident there, President Clinton said October
1.
"We've been providing information to Japan on our experiences in
dealing with similar incidents in the United States, and making
available our experts in atmospheric monitoring and any other areas
that might be useful," Clinton said.
Clinton told reporters that Energy Secretary Richardson had been
meeting with his counterparts in Russia and discussing ways to
coordinate assistance to Japan.
"Japan has been our friend and our ally, and we're ready to work
together to address the situation and to prevent future accidents,"
Clinton said.
Clinton added that this incident should "sensitize us to the
importance of issues of nuclear safety."
Following are excerpts from Clinton's departure remarks:
(begin excerpts)
WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Aboard Air Force One)
October 1, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT UPON DEPARTURE
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This morning before I leave for
California I would like to talk about two issues briefly; first, the
tragic nuclear accident in Japan. I have just spoken with Prime
Minister Obuchi to express our sympathy to those who have been
affected, and our readiness to help in any way we can.
He told me the Japanese authorities have been able to bring the
situation under control, and the thanked me for the outpouring of
support from the United States. Over the last day we've been providing
information to Japan on our experiences in dealing with similar
incidents in the United States, and making available our experts in
atmospheric monitoring and any other areas that might be useful.
Secretary Richardson has been meeting with his counterparts in Russia
and discussing ways we can all coordinate our assistance with them.
Japan has been our friend and our ally, and we're ready to work
together to address the situation and to prevent future accidents....
... Q: Mr. President, are you confident that the kind of accident that
happened in Japan can't happen here in America, or do you think that
some additional steps need to be taken?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I've asked our people to look at that, the
appropriate authorities, to take a look at that. We had a similar
incident in this country, I was informed yesterday, I think about 30
years ago. I think that's right. I wish I had the specifics but we had
a general conversation about it; and I said that I thought that we
ought to have all of our people learn everything we could about what
happened there, analyze our systems here, and make sure we've done
everything we can to protect ourselves.
There was a pretty good level of confidence that we had done that,
yesterday. But I think that when something like this happens we
realize we live in a world where perfection eludes us and we've got to
keep working on this. So that's what I've asked to be done.
I also think, by the way though if I could just reemphasize, that this
should again sensitize us to the importance of issues of nuclear
safety. And if I could just mention one; once again I'm in a dispute
with a majority of members of Congress over this Yucca Mountain
Facility in Nevada. And my feeling that at the time it was selected,
there was some science in there, but perhaps some politics too, since
Nevada is a small state and I have wanted not to see this issue
politicized but to bend over backwards to make sure we do everything
we can to deal with the nuclear safety issue before we adopt this
course. I still feel that way.
I hope that generally all Americans will want to see us proceed in
every area where we're dealing with nuclear safety....
(end excerpts)
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