14 DAY TRIAL // Not to alarm anyone, but it looks like Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO, for short) is doing a really lousy job containing leaks reported at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Hence the fact that Japan's government is now looking into the possibility of rolling up its sleeves and taking charge of the situation.
Reuters tells us that, this past Monday, Japan's current Trade and Industry Minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, paid a visit to the nuclear facility. By the looks of it, he wasn't in the least pleased by what he saw.
The same source reports that, in the aftermath of this visit, Toshimitsu Motegi announced that he would set up a task force whose members would be entrusted with making sure clean-up operations are effective and go according to plan.
What's more, the Minister said that he would make sure high officials responsible for overseeing clean-up activities are present in the area at all times, at least until the situation takes a turn for the better.
“I strongly feel that the government should get fully involved,” Toshimitsu Motegi reportedly told the press.
By the looks of it, the Minister has ordered TEPCO to immediately replace all storage tanks that look like they might spring a leak.
Besides, he has urged the company to make sure workers and specialists go on patrols as often as possible, and closely monitor the nuclear facility at all time.
Word has it that, in order to solve the ongoing Fukushima nuclear plant crisis, Japan's government will have no choice except access emergency funds that amount to $3.6 billion (€2.7 billion).
This money would serve to pay for clean-up operations.
News of Japan's government getting behind efforts to contain spills at the Fukushima nuclear plant comes shortly after Russia announced that it was ready and willing to help TEPCO sort out this issue.
“In our globalized nuclear industry we don’t have national accidents, they are all international,” Vladimit Asmolov, the current first deputy director general of Rosenergoatomfirst, offered as an explanation for Russia's decision to lend TEPCO a helping hand.