Gov't will form panel on Fukushima information

February 07, 2014

Govt. to form panel on Fukushima plant information

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140207_01.html 

The Japanese government will include local residents in a planned panel on how best to inform the public on the status of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Currently, the government and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, hold news conferences to announce how efforts to scrap reactors and address radioactive wastewater are going at the plant. They also release information on the plant through their websites.

Their announcements have been drawing persistent criticism for using many technical terms and being unhelpful for specific information.

The complaints have prompted the government to set up a panel to determine possible problems with the current information system.

Sources say the panel will include evacuees from the 2011 nuclear disaster, officials from local municipalities, and representatives from farming and fishing groups.

Their first session is scheduled for February 17th in Fukushima City. The panel's meetings will be open to the public with gallery seats prepared for ordinary citizens.

The government says this is the first time since the nuclear accident that civilians will join a state-established panel on the plant's containment efforts.

Feb. 6, 2014 - Updated 23:26 UTC