Antinuclear

Japanese officials fear the Fukushima crisis could threaten Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics 

“Tokyo Electric has been playing a game of whack-a-mole with problems at the site,” Trade and Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in a televised interview.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to “step forward and implement all necessary policies” to deal with the flood of radioactive waste building up at Fukushima since the March 2011 reactor meltdown at Fukushima……….

Olympic Bid At Stake

Japan’s nuclear industry, which once provided a third of its energy, has ground nearly to a halt since the earthquake, causing reactor meltdowns. Restarting Japan’s idled reactors, and reducing its reliance on foreign energy supplies, is a central element of Abe’s economic growth plans.

Japanese officials also fear that international attention to the Fukushima crisis could threaten Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a decision set to be made by the International Olympic Committee on Saturday in Buenos Aires.

Yasuhisa Shiozaki, deputy policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and head of its project team on nuclear regulation, called for the creation of a “decommissioning agency” that could resemble Britain’s National Decommissioning Authority, a public body charged with managing the dismantling of the nation’s atomic power and research stations. http://www.smh.com.au/world/high-radiation-spreads-at-ruined-fukushima-plant-japan-vows-aid-20130903-2t1jf.html#ixzz2dssfzv3V