Tepco was going to wait until late 2013 to even begin to start [4] addressing the greatest threat to humanity [5].
There is some good news.
Specifically – due to international pressure [6] – Tepco has agreed to speed up the timetable. As Reuters notes [7]:
Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will begin removing fuel rods from a damaged reactors a year ahead of schedule, a government minister said Thursday, a move to address concerns about the risk of a new quake that could cause a further accident and scatter more radioactive debris.
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“We would like to start taking out undamaged fuel this year. Preparation is now under way,” Japan’s nuclear crisis minister, Goshi Hosono, told Reuters in an interview.
“Doing it quickly is important. But we also have to make sure those workers out there, who are struggling under harsh conditions, will not be endangered by trying to move things fast.”