Japan has no plan to lodge protest over U.S. subcritical nuclear test+

TOKYO, Oct. 13 Kyodo -
Japan has no plan to lodge a protest with the United States over a subcritical
nuclear test last month as it did not contradict President Barack Obama's goal
of realizing a world without nuclear weapons, the top government spokesman said
Wednesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said at a news conference that
Japan believes the test did not breach the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
as it did not involve a nuclear explosion.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters, ''We should make efforts toward
realizing a world without nuclear weapons in which experiments including
subcritical ones will not be needed. That's how I think,'' when asked about his
stance on the test as leader of the only country to have been attacked with
nuclear weapons.
The nuclear test, conducted in Nevada on Sept. 15, was the first since Obama
assumed office in January 2009, the U.S. Energy Department said.
Anti-nuke groups in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Wednesday voiced complaints over
the test, saying it runs counter to the Obama administration's efforts toward
nuclear disarmament.
The National Nuclear Security Administration under the department defended the
test as necessary to obtain data to maintain the reliability and safety of the
U.S nuclear arsenal.
==Kyodo