TOKYO: Japan’s efforts to scour areas around Fukushima have been insufficient, pressure group Greenpeace said yesterday, as the government considers letting some residents return to homes near the crippled nuclear plant.
The environmental group said tests it had carried out inside the original 20-kilometre (12-mile) no-go zone around the plant showed that high levels of radiation remain.
Local and national officials are mulling lifting the exclusion order in parts of Tamura city, allowing people to return to homes they abandoned more than two and a half years ago. They cite lowered pollution levels in the wake of large cleaning operations.
A recent Greenpeace survey found that decontamination programmes have been effective for houses and many parts of major routes in the city.
But some lesser-used public roads, large areas of farmland and mountain areas still have high contamination levels.
US, Vietnam sign Nuclear deal
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The United States and Vietnam yesterday signed a pact that would allow the transfer of nuclear technology to the Southeast Asian nation and open the way for US investment in the burgeoning industry, in another sign that Washington is seeking stronger economic and strategic ties in the region.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the US-Vietnam Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement would allow US firms to tap Vietnam’s future nuclear power market, although the State Department said the deal will not allow Vietnam to enrich or reprocess US-origin nuclear materials. “This deal will create opportunities for our businesses,” Kerry told Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on the sidelines of the Asian summit in Brunei. “Obviously our nuclear cooperation is significant.”
Vietnam is working with Russia to build its first nuclear plant in 2014 for completion in 2020 in Ninh Thuan, as demand for energy grows rapidly in response to economic growth of around 5 percent a year. It has also signed a deal with a Japanese consortium to develop a second nuclear power plant in the same province, with two reactors to become operational in 2024-2025. Reuters
