Fukushima decommissioning made 'significant progress': IAEA

Japan has made "significant progress" in cleaning up the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, a UN review mission said Tuesday as it again advised the country to consider discharging treated water into the sea. "Japan has made significant progress since our previous missions" in 2013, said Juan Carlos Lentijo, who led a review mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The situation on the site has improved—progressive clean-up has led to reduced radiation levels in many parts of the site," he said in a statement as the agency ended a third mission.The 15-strong IAEA team has been in Japan since last week to examine efforts by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to clean up the site, where reactors were sent into meltdown by a huge tsunami that crashed ashore in March 2011.

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Image credit: Team leader Juan Carlos Lentijo studies a pump that is part of several measures aiming to reduce the amount of water that gets contaminated at the site. Susanna Loof / IAEA Imagebank

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