Tokyo – A team of experts under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday began a fresh review of the condition of a nuclear power plant that was hit by a tsunami in 2011.
The 15 experts would assess the overall progress of decommissioning efforts by Japan and Tokyo Electric Power Company.
Also the experts would assess the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the shuttered plant at the centre of the country’s worst nuclear accident.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
They would examine how Japan and the operator were dealing with radiation-contaminated water build-up at the complex among other issues.
Team leader Juan Lentijo said the issue of how to deal with toxic water remains “one of the most challenging short-term issues’’ nearly four years after the start of the nuclear disaster.
“In 2013, we saw that the government of Japan and TEPCO were defining a very impressive set of countermeasures to deal with this challenging issue.
“One of our objectives in this mission is to review up to what extent these countermeasures have progressed and (whether) the situation has been improved,’’ Lentijo told a news conference in Tokyo.
At the Fukushima plant, some 350 tons of toxic water are generated every day in the process of cooling three reactors that suffered meltdowns caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
However, the IAEA team would visit the plant and provide a preliminary report to the Japanese government at the end of its 9-day mission. (dpa/NAN)