TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Naoto Kan is considering setting up a big underground tank in the compound of the radiation-spewing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to prevent contaminated water from spilling into the sea, a fishery official said Wednesday.
"There is bedrock 46 meters underground. The government has found that no tainted water will seep below (the bedrock) and is considering building a tank there," Ikuhiro Hattori, who heads the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives Associations, quoted Kan as saying.
Hattori talked to the press after he and other executives of the federation held talks with Kan, during which they lodged a protest against the government for allowing the nuclear plant's operator to release a large amount of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean in early April.
Hattori told Kan the release of radioactive water without any prior consultation is "hard-to-forgive" and asked him to make sure that fishermen receive enough compensation for losses they incurred in the wake of the crisis at the nuclear plant -- which was triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Kan apologized to the executives and promised that the government will be responsible for upcoming damages with the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The utility unveiled a plan to dump "water containing relatively low levels of radioactive materials" into the sea at the last minute on April 4.
The company known as TEPCO said it was necessary to make space to store more highly radioactive water that has been hindering efforts to bring the plant's overheating reactors under control.
(Mainichi Japan) April 27, 2011
