The potentially lucrative business of decontaminating areas of radioactive substances released from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station may well go to companies handpicked by a government organization that has long played a leading role in promoting the construction of nuclear plants with the electric power industry.
If this becomes a reality, it is feared that much of the cleanup work will be undertaken by amateurs who have only gone through the "Decontamination 101" seminars certifying completion of rudimentary training to do the job.
Procedures for decontamination work, which has been necessitated by the disastrous accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, are provided for in a special law enacted in August.