Japan PM vows new five-year plan to rebuild from 2011 disaster

Wednesday, 11 March 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

TOKYO (Reuters): Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday vowed to draw up a new-five year plan to speed rebuilding from a massive 2011 tsunami and the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl that have left thousands still homeless. Abe spoke ahead of the fourth anniversary of th

e devastating March 11 earthquake, which set off a massive tsunami that ravaged the Pacific coastline, killing nearly 20,000 and causing explosions and meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Much remains to be done, with many towns struggling to provide jobs and permanent housing for thousands of residents, Abe told a news conference, adding that the government would prepare a new five-year reconstruction plan by this summer. “We in the Abe government will provide all the support needed for the people in the devastated areas, who are working so hard to rebuild their lives and move ahead,” Abe said. “The current intensive five-year reconstruction plan expires next March, but we will draw up another for the next five years by this summer,” he added. He declined to give any details of the budget, apart from saying it would be decided in talks with local governments. It is estimated that the government has paid out as much as $ 50 billion to the three regions hardest hit by the disaster. Since the 9.0 magnitude quake, Japan has allocated more than $ 15 billion to an unprecedented project to lower radiation in towns near the plant, with irradiated trash piling up in 88,000 temporary storage facilities nearby.

China approves first nuclear project since Fukushima

Reuters: China has given the go-ahead for the launch of a major domestic nuclear power project, marking the first such approval since a temporary freeze on new construction following Japan’s Fukushima disaster. China General Nuclear Power Group has received state approval to build two one-gigawatt (GW) reactors in the second phase of a project called Hongyanhe in the northeastern province of Liaoning, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. The project will use what the company calls home-grown “third-generation” reactor technology, dubbed ACPR1000, the report said, citing Yang Xiaofeng, general manager of the Hongyanhe project. China froze new construction and implemented a year-long safety review after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. While it lifted the construction ban at the end 2012, China has been slow to approve new nuclear projects. Beijing has promised to stick to the highest safety standards, using third generation reactors.