Abe Tells TEPCO to Scrap No. 5-6 Fukushima N-Reactors

Okuma/Futaba, Fukushima Pref., Sept. 19 (Jiji Press)--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501> on Thursday to decommission the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in northeastern Japan. The two reactors escaped major damage in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. TEPCO has decided to scrap the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors, which were heavily damaged in the disaster. "I urged (TEPCO) to decide on the decommissioning of the idled No. 5 and No. 6 reactors and focus on accident response," Abe told reporters during a visit to the Fukushima plant the same day. He said TEPCO President Naomi Hirose told him that the company will make a decision on the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors before the year-end. Hirose also expressed an intention to secure another one trillion yen for decommissioning work, according to Abe. Hirose was also quoted as saying the utility will complete decontamination of radioactive water at the plant by the end of March 2015. "The government will become more involved in dealing with contaminated water and I will take charge of the efforts," Abe told reporters. Contaminated water has not spread beyond a 0.3-square-kilometer area inside the port next to the plant, he added. It was Abe's first visit to the Fukushima plant since Dec. 29 and his second since taking office earlier that month. Thursday's visit was aimed at dispelling domestic and international concerns about radioactive water leaks at the crippled plant, informed sources said. At an International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7 before Tokyo won its bid to host the 2020 Olympics, Abe assured attendees that the situation at the plant is "under control." But on Thursday, he did not use the same expression. Last week, a senior TEPCO official said the situation at the Fukushima plant is "not under control." Wearing a protective suit, Abe was shown a water storage tank from which an estimated 300 tons of contaminated water has leaked. He also checked a device called an Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, that removes radioactive substances from water, as well as an undersea silt fence placed near a seawall between the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors to prevent contaminated water from spreading. At the plant's seismic-isolated building, which is used as the front-line base for accident response, the prime minister gave words of encouragement to plant workers. END