Nuke cleanup: Japanese ministry seeks $18 bn

Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry Friday said it is seeking a budget of $17.81 billion for next fiscal to decontaminate and decommission the Daiichi nuclear facility in Fukushima Prefecture.

The proposed budget is to expedite decontamination processes at the crisis-hit nuclear facility, so the plant's reactors can eventually be decommissioned and Fukushima Prefecture "rebuilt", Japan's Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters Friday, Xinhua reported.

Motegi also said the government was making efforts to contain the latest crisis at the nuclear site, involving a tank leaking more than 300 tonnes of radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean.

He said that extra funding has been accessed to manage the leak and help the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., to store massive amounts of toxic water accumulating on a daily basis and being stored in tanks that are at near-capacity on the site.