nuclear-news

Government to spur work to fully reopen Fukushima’s disaster-hit JR Joban Line

The limited express train “Super Hitachi No. 50,” bound for Ueno Station in Tokyo, has remained at Haranomachi Station in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, since March 11, 2011, as the JR Joban Line became partly unavailable due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and an accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. East Japan Railway Co. plans to remove the train from the railway in mid-March.

Government to spur work to fully reopen Fukushima’s disaster-hit JR Joban Line

NARAHA, FUKUSHIMA PREF. – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed a willingness Saturday to spur work to fully reopen East Japan Railway Co.’s Joban Line in Fukushima Prefecture, which was partially closed following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The government is looking at completely reopening the Joban Line in the spring of 2020, ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, informed sources said.
“I’ve instructed the transport minister to promptly indicate the timing (of the reopening),” Abe told reporters during a visit to the Fukushima Prefecture town of Naraha near the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The Joban Line’s operator, also known as JR East, has released a plan to reopen in stages by the end of 2017 all shuttered sections but the Tomioka-Namie segment near the nuclear plant.
The prime minister also said that he will instruct the industry minister to set up a public-private panel to start a detailed study this month on a plan to make Fukushima Prefecture a key region for renewable energy production.
“In Fukushima in 2020, hydrogen fuel for 10,000 fuel cell vehicles will be produced from (the use of) renewable energy,” Abe said.
On Saturday, he visited a stock farm in the city of Fukushima, a restaurant using local ingredients in the town of Hirono, a battery factory in Naraha and other facilities.
“The reconstruction of Tohoku is the Abe administration’s top priority,” the prime minister said ahead of the fifth anniversary on Friday of the massive disaster.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/05/national/government-to-spur-work-to-fully-reopen-fukushimas-disaster-hit-jr-joban-line/#.Vtss5ObzN_l

FIVE YEARS AFTER: Joban Line to be fully resumed by spring 2020
Damaged in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and disrupted by the nuclear accident, the JR Joban Line, which runs between Tokyo and Miyagi Prefecture, is set to fully resume operation by spring 2020.
On March 5, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe inspected the Joban Line and told reporters, “I instructed the transport minister to set as early as possible the time when train services will be resumed along the entire portion.”
The government is expected to set the target of spring 2020 for the full resumption of service at its Reconstruction Promotion Council meeting on March 10, according to government sources. That will allow railway services to be fully available before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, to be held in the summer of that year.
At present, services are still unavailable in two sections. One is the 46-kilometer stretch between Tatsuta Station in Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, and Haranomachi Station in Minami-Soma, also in the prefecture.
The other is the 22.6-km section between Soma Station in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, and Hamayoshida Station in Watari, Miyagi Prefecture.
Of the 46-km stretch, the 21-km portion between Tomioka Station in Tomioka and Namie Station in Namie is close to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and most of the areas along the route have been designated as “difficult-to-return zones” due to high radiation levels.
In those areas, it is necessary to remove the crossties and gravel that are contaminated with radioactive substances and to lay new ones. The work is expected to continue until fiscal 2019.
Meanwhile, the operation of the remaining sections is scheduled to resume by fiscal 2017
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201603060030

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks with local high school students at JR Odaka Station

on the Joban Line in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture,

on Saturday during a visit to the area.

March 6, 2016 - Posted by dunrenard | Fukushima 2016 | Fukushima continuing, Reconstruction