Nuclear experts to help Fukushima decontamination

The UN atomic agency IAEA said Tuesday it was sending 12 international experts to Japan on October 7-15 to assist the country with clean-up efforts after the nuclear accident of Fukushima in March. The experts "will go to several locations in the Fukushima Prefecture and conduct meetings in Tokyo with Japanese officials to provide assistance to Japan in its plans to manage remediation efforts (and) review the country's remediation strategies, plans and work," the IAEA said in a statement. The mission, requested by the Japanese government, will be led by Juan Carlos Lentijo, head of radiation protection at the Spanish nuclear regulatory authority, it added. The experts will also discuss decontamination efforts with local authorities and evaluate the lessons learnt from these measures, the IAEA said. A preliminary report and a press conference are planned at the end of the mission. In late September, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano already announced an upcoming mission to Japan to provide assistance with decontamination plans around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, which was seriously damaged after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, sparking the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Six months on, emergency crews are still struggling to stop radiation seeping out from the plant and tens of thousands of people remain evacuated from homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre (12-mile) radius around the site.