Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said Sunday it would take up to nine months to stabilize the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Katsumata said, "It will take three months to ensure that radiation leaking from the nuclear power plant is in a continual decline." He added it would then take another three to six months to significantly reduce these amounts.
Katsumata said the company's tasks include cooling the plant's nuclear reactors and storage pools for spent fuel rods; decreasing the amount of radioactive substances released from the power plant; monitoring radiation leaks and decontaminating radioactive substances at areas near the plant.
To reduce the amount of radiation leaking from the power plant--TEPCO's most important goal--Katsumata said it was crucial to prevent hydrogen explosions at reactors Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
"It is also important to prevent water contaminated with radioactive substances from the No. 2 reactor leaking to the sea," he said. TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto added the company will secure places to keep the contaminated water.
However, Muto said TEPCO will not be able to remove fuel rods from the nuclear reactors within the nine-month period. The removal will be conducted in the next phase, he said.
Katsumata said TEPCO will "do everything possible" to secure the revenue to compensate people affected by the nuclear accident--residents near the Fukushima power plant, farmers and fishermen--by selling its assets, cutting salaries and taking other measures.
Katsumata said the company's safety and operations board will investigate the accident to determine whether human error played any role in the initial crisis.
Katsumata also said he is considering resigning from his post to take responsibility for the accident at a general meeting of stockholders scheduled for late June.
Following the TEPCO press conference, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda said he would be unable to declare the nuclear plant was completely safe until the fuel rods were removed from its reactors.
He also hoped to tell evacuees from certain areas whether they would be able to return to their homes within the nine-month period.
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