Japan: Fukushima Reactors To Be Demolished

Japan's Prime Minister has ordered the destruction of the two nuclear reactors that survived after a tsunami hit the Fukushima plant in 2011.

Shinzo Abe said he stood by his commitment to the International Olympic Committee that the nuclear plant would be made safe before the Summer Games in 2020.

"I will work hard to counter rumours questioning the safety of the Fukushima plant," he said after touring the site on Thursday.

Mr Abe also revealed he had told the plant's owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Co to set a time frame for dealing with leaking contaminated water.

"In order for them to concentrate on this, I have directed them to decommission the no. 5 and no. 6 reactors that are now halted," Mr Abe said.

Mr Shinzo meets a worker at the Fukushima plant

The tsunami that battered the Fukushima Daiichi plant on March 11, 2011 caused fuel-rod meltdowns and radioactive contamination of air, sea and food.

Some 160,000 people were evacuated from their homes and many are still waiting to return.

Recently authorities have been struggling to contain leaks of radioactive groundwater.

Mr Abe said the president of Tokyo Electric, Naomi Hirose, had promised to finish treating contaminated water by March 2015

Tanks of contaminated water at the plant

His visit to the plant, 140 miles (240km) north of Tokyo, came after he pledged the government would take a more central role in the clean-up as part of Tokyo's successful bid for the Olympics.

Four reactors were destroyed by meltdowns and hydrogen explosions but reactors 5 and 6 escaped serious damage and Tokyo Electric has been allowed to include them as an asset on its balance sheet.

The company, which has posted more than £16.8bn ($27bn) in net losses since the disaster, is negotiating with a syndicate of Japanese banks for a refinancing of £517m (($816m) due next month.

It is feared the order to scrap the two remaining two reactors will make it even more difficult to reach a deal.

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