500 people assigned to decontamination

April 2, 2012

Decontamination work ramped up

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120402_29.html

Japan's Environment Ministry is launching new branch offices to speed up decontamination work around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The ministry on Monday opened 5 new branches in Fukushima Prefecture.

The offices will cover 60 municipalities in Fukushima as well as in neighboring Miyagi and Iwate prefectures.

At an appointment ceremony on Monday, the head of the ministry's decontamination task force, Masaru Moriya, said the mission is urgent and should be carried out properly under the central government's authority.

The ministry also set up a new department at its branch in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, to cover decontamination work in 51 municipalities in the Kanto region.

The ministry now has nearly 500 people assigned to decontamination work, an increase of about 180.