September 14, 2019
Jiji Press FUKUSHIMA (Jiji Press) — The economy, trade and industry ministry will steadily promote decommissioning work at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, new minister Isshu Sugawara said Friday.
“Decommissioning work and disposal of tainted water at the plant are the ministry’s highest priorities,” Sugawara said in a meeting with Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori.
The nuclear plant, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., is the site of a triple reactor meltdown in March 2011.
Sugawara, who took office on Wednesday as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet reshuffle, said the ministry will also step up support to businesses in areas hit by the nuclear disaster.
Uchibori sought to move nuclear fuel stored at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, which will also be decommissioned, out of his prefecture.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sugawara said the ministry will work responsively on tackling treated water at the Fukushima No. 1 plant that contains tritium, a radioactive substance.
Fukushima 311 Watchdogs 