UN team: Unclear if Fukushima cleanup can finish by 2051

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The head of a U.N. team reviewing progress in the cleanup of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says too little is known about melted fuel inside the damaged reactors, even a decade after the disaster, to be able to tell if its decommissioning can be finished by 2051 as planned. Christophe Xerri, head of the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, says there has been progress at the plant but removal of the highly radioactive melted fuel will be the biggest challenge. A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 triggered the meltdown of three reactors at the plant.