Japan asks IAEA assistance in monitoring Fukushima

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japan is asking the UN's nuclear agency to set up a permanent office in Fukushima to monitor its efforts to contain the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The International Atomic Energy Agency was "carefully considering" the request, said James Lyons, who is leading a team of IAEA experts reviewing Japan's safety tests for idled reactors.

Tokyo wants an international seal of approval for the energy-hungry country's nuclear industry to bolster its faltering efforts at reassuring the public it is safe to resume atomic operations.

The vast majority of Japan's 54 commercial nuclear reactors are offline because popular opposition is preventing their being restarted in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The disaster, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, contaminated the environment and forced tens of thousands of residents around the Fukushima nuclear site, in northeast Japan, to evacuate their homes. Many still do not know if or when they will be able to return.

Utility companies say Japan will experience severe power shortages if nuclear electricity production is not re-started.

"We are making contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency to see what's possible after we received requests from Fukushima that it hoped IAEA will have a permanent presence in the area," a Japanese diplomat told AFP, under customary condition of anonymity.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, whose parliamentary constituency is in Fukushima, told residents that he was making the push after requests from local leaders.