CONTAMINATED WATER STILL TROUBLES FUKUSHIMA

via Press TV / March 11, 2014 /

The radioactive water at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant remains the biggest problem, hampering the cleanup process three years after the disaster, officials say.

On Monday, officials at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said the contaminated water accumulated at the facility was hampering the cleanup process.

“The most pressing issue for us is the contaminated water, rather than decommissioning,” media outlets quoted plant chief Akira Ono as saying, adding, “Unless we resolve the problem, fear of the society continues and the evacuees cannot return home.”

This comes three years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s power and cooling system, triggering multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi.

The contaminated water has leaked repeatedly from storage tanks ever since. Meanwhile, the consequence of the disaster is taking toll on children with many of them kept indoors for much of their short lives on fear of radiation.

This incident is the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

The natural disaster killed 15,884 people and left 2,636 people still unaccounted for.

A report released by a Japanese parliamentary panel later said the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant was not only due to the tsunami, but also a “man-made disaster.”

The report criticized the “government, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power Company” for being devoid of “a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and society.”

SOURCE: Press TV