nuclear-news

Slow progress on decontamination of Fukushima, most of the budget still unused

Ministry fails to use 77% of Fukushima decontamination budget; TEPCO refuses to pay Asahi Shimbun, 18 Oct 13, By TAKUYA KITAZAWA/ Staff Writer The Environment Ministry has failed to use 76.6 percent, or 247.2 billion yen, of its budget to decontaminate radioactive areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the Board of Audit said.

Progress has been slow because opposition from local residents is making it difficult for the ministry to secure places to temporarily store the contaminated soil and debris collected in the work.

The ministry faces another problem: Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the stricken Fukushima plant, refuses to cover all the costs of the decontamination work as required under law.

The Board of Audit investigated the ministry’s budget of about 322.8 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for decontamination work for the period until March 2013, the end of fiscal 2012.

The results were released on Oct. 16………http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201310170058

October 18, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan