Japan's government takes over reactor-disaster site

Japan's government will lead "emergency measures" to tackle radioactive water spills at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, wresting control of the disaster recovery from the plant's heavily criticized operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.

"We've allowed Tokyo Electric to deal with the contaminated-water situation on its own, and they've essentially turned it into a game of Whack-A-Mole," Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters Sunday in Fukushima. "From now on, the government will move to the forefront."

Motegi's visit to the plant comes a week after a storage tank leaked 300 metric tons of highly radioactive water, which Japan's nuclear regulator labeled a "serious incident" in its worst assessment of the problems at Fukushima since the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 caused reactors to melt down.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, which is led by Motegi, "is working to draw up, by some time in September, both emergency measures and more fundamental steps to eliminate the roots of the contaminated-water problem," the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a response to written questions.

It's now up to the government to lead management of the contaminated water that is building up in tanks at the plant at a rate of 400 tons a day and leaking from underground tunnels into the ocean, Motegi said.

The trade minister ordered the utility, known as Tepco, to monitor its water-storage tanks more frequently and to replace the type that leaked, as well as to "thoroughly" identify the risks of storing highly contaminated water.

"Mr. Motegi said that this leak was caused by human error," Tepco President Naomi Hirose said in a separate news conference Sunday. "We are very grateful that we are getting government support."

Measures under consideration for the next one to two years include fencing off the reactors with what would be the world's longest underground "ice walls."

These comprise coolant pipes, sunk as deep as 40 meters underground, to turn soil into permafrost. One wall would prevent water flowing from hillsides from coming into contact with reactors; the other would block radiated water from entering the ocean. The government is still working out the costs.