Japanese PM urges decommissioning last 2 Fukushima reactors

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday instructed Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to decommission the last two reactors at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the other four reactors at the six-reactor plant are already in the decommissioning process. Abe made the request to scrap the facility's No. 5 and No. 6 units in his meeting with TEPCO President Naomi Hirose after his on-site inspection of the Fukushima plant, the premier told reporters. The premier also asked Hirose to secure a budget for decommissioning cost and clean up the contaminated water with setting a deadline, according to Abe. Hirose said that the utility will decide on how to deal with the two reactors by the end of this year. The magnitude-9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami on March 11 hit the Fukushima plant, located 230 km north of Tokyo, knocking out its vital cooling systems of three reactors. It resulted in explosions, fires and the worst radiation crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. TEPCO has been recently struggling to keep the massive amount of radiation-tainted water from seeping out from the storage tank into the Pacific Ocean through drainage channels. Earlier this month, the government announced a plan to spend JPY 47 billion (USD 470 million) to achieve a fundamental solution to contain the build-up of radioactive water. During Japan's successful 2020 Olympic bid process on September 7, Abe assured the International Olympic Committee in Tokyo's final presentation that the situation at Fukushima was "under control."