Fukushima operator to seek foreign advice on toxic water

Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, said it would invite foreign decommissioning experts to advise it on how to deal with highly radioactive water leaking from the site, and Japan signalled it may dip into a $3.6 billion emergency reserve fund to help pay for the clean-up. Visiting the plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Toshimitsu Motegi, the trade and industry minister, said on Monday he would set up a taskforce to take charge of the clean-up, and send officials to Fukushima to oversee operations. "I strongly feel that the government should get fully involved," he told reporters after touring the Fukushima Daiichi facility, which is 220 km (137 miles) north of Tokyo. Motegi ordered Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, to replace storage tanks that are at risk of leaking radioactive water. Tepco acknowledged last week that hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive waterhad leaked from one of around 350 tanks that were assembled quickly after the 2011 nuclear meltdowns at the site. The tanks are used to store water pumped through the reactors to keep fuel in the melted cores from overheating.

Motegi said Tepco should have more frequent patrols around the tanks and better documentation of inspections. He said the utility should replace weaker bolted tanks with sturdier welded storage units. Tepco said it was setting up its own group of experts to oversee toxic water and storage tanks at the Fukushima site.

"For measures that require sophisticated technology, we will appropriately implement them as the government while collaborating with authorities on fiscal measures, including the use of a reserve fund," Motegi said.

Earlier on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the situation at Fukushima was "deplorable", and signalled the government could use some of the 350 billion yen set aside in this year's budget as a reserve for natural disasters and other emergencies.