NUCLEAR REFORM COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN KLEIN MOURNS BAKER

AUSTIN, June 30, 2014- Dr. Dale Klein, the former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission who currently chairs TEPCO's Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, today remembered Ambassador Howard Baker as a great friend to Japan and a supporter of nuclear energy.

Baker, who in addition to his role as U.S. Ambassador to Japan was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee, Majority Leader, and served as White House chief of staff under President Ronald Reagan, died June 26 at age 88.

Observed Dr. Klein: "Although most people justly remember then-Senator Baker for his gift at conciliation and great leadership, I was privileged to see him bring the same great personal qualities to other aspects of his public life. As Ambassador to Japan from 2001 to 2005, he represented our country with distinction and strengthened our relationship with Japan not only as a strategic ally, but as a people for whom he developed a great affection."

Dr. Klein also noted that Senator Baker believed in the importance of nuclear power as part of the strategy of both our countries to achieve energy security. The Howard Baker Forum (howardbakerforum.org) has, in fact, played a role in educating the public about nuclear energy and counteracting the misinformation that has followed the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee that Dr. Klein chairs is a group of international experts formed to advise the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., on the efforts to reform nuclear safety culture and to decontaminate and decommission the Fukushima Daiichi facility.

"I believe Howard Baker was one of the best ambassadors we ever sent to Japan," Dr. Klein said, "because he understood that people, not politics, made the difference."

On behalf of the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, we extend our condolences to his wife, Mrs. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, and to his many friends in the U.S. and Japan.