IAEA Reviews Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning Plan
An expert team finished the initial review April 22 and will deliver a final report to Japan within a month.
A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency completed its initial review of Japan's plan to decommission TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The team's site visit took place April 15-22.
The government of Japan asked the IAEA team to meet with officials from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), and the team also met with officials of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
"Extraordinarily committed workers have made significant accomplishments at Fukushima Daiichi since the March 2011 accident, but Japan continues to face difficult challenges as it works to decommission the site," said team leader Juan Carlos Lentijo, IAEA's director of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. "We saw that TEPCO has achieved the stable cooling of the reactors and spent fuel pools at the site."
The team's 13 members examined a variety of issues related to decommissioning the nuclear plant, including the overall strategic approach, the current condition of the reactors and spent fuel pools, management of the huge amount of accumulated water at the site, and radioactive releases. The team completed a draft report and delivered it to Japanese authorities; its final report will be delivered within a month.