U.S. submarine leaks radiation in Japan

An American nuclear submarine that spent a week earlier this year docked at Sasebo leaked some radiation, apparently at a non-dangerous level.

It was a major news story that probably required a statement from the Japanese government to assure residents near naval bases that there was no danger, but Japan’s foreign minister wasn’t even informed of the leak until he saw it on TV:

“This (Saturday) morning I was watching CNN, and even if I don’t understand English that well I saw that something strange was going on,” Komura, who retained the post in the new cabinet, told a news conference.

“I therefore contacted (his subordinates) myself,” he said, adding that foreign ministry officials “should have shared the information faster” to enable him to make an announcement quickly.

The Pentagon on Friday announced that trace amounts of radioactivity may have seeped out of US nuclear missile submarine USS Houston during a cruise that included stops in Japan and Guam.

The Japanese foreign ministry said it received the information from the US government on Friday afternoon.

Komura said officials did not notify him because the leak posed no risk for residents or the environment. “But that is not a reason for delay,” he said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the government’s number two who also retained his post, also criticised the Foreign Ministry for the delay.

“It is sincerely bad that some media reports preceded (the government’s) announcement,” he said.

“If the Foreign Ministry received communication from the US government, then it should either report to the Prime Minister’s office or make a public announcement,” he told reporters.

Most of the Japanese TV networks that covered the story included interviews with Sasebo residents that expressed concern over the leak. Here’s ATV’s coverage:

At the end of the clip, a couple Sasebo residents express their opposition to visits from nuclear-powered naval vessels, and one man is quite frustrated with how weak the Japanese government is when dealing with America.

The radiation news story comes just days after a decision by the U.S. Navy to sack two top officers on the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George Washington for their “substandard performance” in connection to a fire that recently inflicted $70 million in damage to the ship. The George Washington will soon be using Yokosuka as its home port, and the news of American subs leaking radiation in Japan isn’t going to make local residents very happy about their situation.