Fukushima Gov. will not allow TEPCO to resume work at Fukushima nuke plant
April 22nd, 2011 - 1:43 pm ICT by ANITokyo, Apr 22 (ANI): Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato has said Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO) would never be allowed to resume its operations at the earthquake-cum-tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
‘A resumption of plant operations must be impossible,’ The Kyodo news agency quoted Sato as telling Masataka Shimizu, president of Tokyo Electric, known as TEPCO, who apologized for the nuclear emergency during their meeting at the prefectural government office.
Following the 15-minute meeting, Shimizu said that he would step down at an appropriate time to take responsibility for the disaster.
It was reported earlier that TEPCO workers were struggling to stabilize the nuclear plant, and risked facing depression or death from overwork.
The workers were not only undertaking dangerous work in severe conditions but also felt a sense of moral responsibility as employees of the firm to blame for the nuclear disaster, one of the worst in the world, Takeshi Tanigawa, a doctor, had said.
Meanwhile, Japan has included some towns outside a 20-kilometer radius of the troubled plant to the list of areas covered by its evacuation directive over concerns of high levels of radiation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that all residents in Katsurao, Namie and Iitate and some in Kawamata and Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture have to leave the region by late May. (ANI)
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