A Senior member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan compares closing nuclear plants to 'mass suicide'

[link to www.japantoday.com]

TOKYO —

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, who is also a senior member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), came under fire Tuesday for saying that if Japan leaves all its nuclear reactors offline, it would be tantamount to the nation committing mass suicide.

Sengoku, a close ally of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, made the remarks during a speech to supporters in Nagoya on Monday. “We have to consider what it means to try and live without nuclear reactors. In a way, failing to restart the reactors is like committing mass suicide,” he said, according to Fuji TV.