Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed opposition to suggestions that Tokyo Electric Power Co. should be liquidated if taxpayers money is used to deal with the radioactive water problem at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed opposition to suggestions that Tokyo Electric Power Co. should be liquidated if taxpayers money is used to deal with the radioactive water problem at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Doing so could jeopardize compensation payments to victims of the nuclear accident and also adversely affect the electricity supply, he told The Asahi Shimbun in a recent interview.
Motegi pledged that the government will actively tackle the contaminated water problem. He added that the government would spare no effort to promote technological innovations in areas where current expertise is insufficient.
Motegi, 57, heads the government’s task force set up this month to take charge of the problem concerning contaminated water as well as decommission the plant’s crippled reactors.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimates that 300 tons of water contaminated with radioactive materials are leaking from the site into the sea each day.
In an effort to plug the leakage, the government is taking or plans to take several measures, including freezing the soil around reactor and turbine buildings to prevent groundwater from flowing into the structures. Excerpts from the interview follow.
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We will also gather ideas from Japan and abroad to deal with potential risks. In two months, we will work out measures to cope with the risks. If those measures are insufficient, we will take additional measures at the earliest moment.
(This article was written by Mari Fujisaki and Daisuke Fukuma.)