Japan agrees to foreign help with Fukushima
Mark Willacy reported this story on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 12:40:00
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PETER LLOYD: To nuclear issues of another kind now, and Japan has finally accepted international help to sort out the mess at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
It's agreed to let the French help decommission and dismantle it.
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MARK WILLACY: That's right. In fact the Russians offered to help more than two years ago, but that offer of help was never taken up. Russia's state-owned Rosatom sent Japan a sample of what it said was a special absorbent to help clean up contaminated water but the sample just wasn't used by the Japanese.
The Russians have said all along that pumping in water to cool the melted reactors was always going to cause more problems than in was worth. That it was just going to create more radioactive water. And in fact we now know that's what TEPCO is grappling with at the site. So the Russians did offer this absorbent technology but as I say it was never used by the Japanese.
However, the Russians are now reporting a more positive attitude in Tokyo towards accepting their help. After all, Moscow has pointed out in the past that there's no such thing as a national nuclear accident. They are all international accidents. And after Chernobyl, the Russians would know. ...
