Tokyo: A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan this week to help with the massive cleanup of areas contaminated by a radiation-leaking nuclear power plant, officials said on Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the 12-member team will help plan and conduct the decontamination during its nine-day visit starting on Friday. It will also visit the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, meet with Japanese nuclear officials and compile a report, he said.
A massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged cooling systems at the plant, causing three reactor cores to melt and releasing large amounts of radiation. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes.
"We hope that we can move ahead with decontamination more promptly and effectively by bringing together wisdom from around the world," Fujimura said.
The team is the second major IAEA mission to Japan since the nuclear crisis began. An IAEA accident investigation team visited the tsunami-hit plant in late May and early June.
The upcoming mission will also inspect the plant and monitor decontamination experiments in farmland and other areas near the plant.
Japan lifted some evacuation advisories around the plant last week, in a move largely aimed at reassuring tens of thousands of evacuees that it is safe to return home. But the area must still be decontaminated, especially schools, playgrounds and other areas where children gather.
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