Tokyo to take bigger role in 'urgent' Fukushima clean-up

Japan’s prime minister on Wednesday said Tokyo would get more involved in the clean up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, describing as “urgent” an ongoing battle to stop radioactive water from leaking into the ocean.

The government’s more prominent role comes as critics slam plant operator Tokyo Electric Power and its handling of the more than two-year-old atomic crisis, the worst nuclear accident in a generation.

The embattled utility – which has been kept afloat from a government bail out – admitted last month for the first time that radioactive groundwater had leaked outside the plant, confirming long-held suspicions of ocean contamination from its shattered reactors.

The leaks triggered fresh fears over Fukushima’s precarious state and Tepco’s ability to deal with a growing list of problems after the plant was swamped by a tsunami in March 2011, sending reactors into meltdown.

The company has also faced widespread criticism over its lack of transparency in making critical information public since the disaster.