Japan may set up decommissioning agency for Fukushima plant
Ruling party head moots establishment of a UK-style independent decommissioning body to complete dismantling and decontamination of stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
Japan’s ruling party could set up a British-style agency to shut down the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, taking control of a project now managed by the station’s embattled operator, a senior party policymaker said on Thursday.
A huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered three meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, and exposed a lack of preparation by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, also know as Tepco.
The company has floundered for much of the last two-and-a-half years in dealing with several problems at the site, including a series of leaks of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Tepco has proceeded with initial decommissioning steps, including the tricky removal of spent fuel rod assemblies from a badly damaged reactor building. However, dismantling the plant and decontaminating the nearby area will probably take decades and cost ten of billions of dollars.
“It is likely that the government will eventually have to take responsibility” for the decommissioning, said Tadamori Oshima, head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s task force on disaster reconstruction.
While immediate decommissioning steps should be taken by Tepco, a government oversight body should direct the utility, Oshima added, but gave no further details.