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182146
Sat, 05/14/2011 - 18:44
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https://oananews.org//node/182146
The shortlink copeid
Gov't compiling road map for nuke crisis-affected areas
TOKYO (Kyodo) - The government is compiling a road map to clarify how it will restore areas affected by the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and allow evacuated people to return home, for release as early as Tuesday, government sources said Saturday.
The release may be delayed, however, as the latest findings by the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. indicate a meltdown of the troubled No. 1 reactor's fuel in a development that may affect its aim of bringing the crisis under control within six to nine months.
While the utility known as TEPCO is slated to update Tuesday its road map for stabilizing the country's worst nuclear accident, the government has decided its own road map is needed to help ease growing frustrations among people affected as the crisis continues, the sources said.
In the road map, it will clarify prospects for studying the effects of radioactive materials and decontaminating areas where they have accumulated, and state that it will decide whether to lift the no-go zone around the plant after monitoring the levels of radiation and radioactive materials, they said.
The monitoring will start after residents of areas within 20 kilometers of the plant make a temporary visit home and all people evacuate from surrounding areas as required, they said.
The road map will also specify that a special accident investigation committee the government is slated to set up soon will compile an interim report by the end of this year and its final report by summer next year, they said.
After coordinating with TEPCO's road map, the government will release its road map at a meeting of the nuclear disaster task force headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, they said.
The utility said in a road map released April 17 it aims to bring the crisis under control within six to nine months, but said Thursday that data taken by adjusted measuring gauges indicate that a large part of the No. 1 reactor's fuel has melted after being fully exposed.
The release may be delayed, however, as the latest findings by the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. indicate a meltdown of the troubled No. 1 reactor's fuel in a development that may affect its aim of bringing the crisis under control within six to nine months.
While the utility known as TEPCO is slated to update Tuesday its road map for stabilizing the country's worst nuclear accident, the government has decided its own road map is needed to help ease growing frustrations among people affected as the crisis continues, the sources said.
In the road map, it will clarify prospects for studying the effects of radioactive materials and decontaminating areas where they have accumulated, and state that it will decide whether to lift the no-go zone around the plant after monitoring the levels of radiation and radioactive materials, they said.
The monitoring will start after residents of areas within 20 kilometers of the plant make a temporary visit home and all people evacuate from surrounding areas as required, they said.
The road map will also specify that a special accident investigation committee the government is slated to set up soon will compile an interim report by the end of this year and its final report by summer next year, they said.
After coordinating with TEPCO's road map, the government will release its road map at a meeting of the nuclear disaster task force headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, they said.
The utility said in a road map released April 17 it aims to bring the crisis under control within six to nine months, but said Thursday that data taken by adjusted measuring gauges indicate that a large part of the No. 1 reactor's fuel has melted after being fully exposed.
