Tepco should not be in charge of Fukushima decommissioning: Japan panel
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have suggested responsibility for decommissioning the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant be removed from the Tokyo Electric Power Company.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company should be stripped of the responsibility for shutting down its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, according to a draft proposal by a panel of Japan’s ruling party.
Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, has been widely criticised for repeated missteps, poor planning and a lack of disclosure in its efforts to clear up the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
A task force formed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suggests responsibility for the massive work of decommissioning the Fukushima plant be stripped from the giant utility in its current form – either by creating a separate unit within Tepco, breaking the unit off as a separate company or hiving it off as a government-affiliated, but independent, administrative agency.
A person familiar with the LDP panel’s deliberations said it favours the option of creating a separate organisation within Tepco to handle decommissioning – a job that could take decades as massive amounts of toxic water and spent fuel are removed and stored elsewhere.
The policy recommendations will be presented to Abe as soon as next week.
“We need to have a prompt conclusion to create a clear and realistic organisation,” said the draft proposal.
An earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and cooling at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in March 2011, leading to three reactor meltdowns and explosions that sent a huge plume of radiation into the air and sea, forcing some 150,000 people to evacuate.