Japan PM says long battle ahead

At reactor one at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power station the Tokyo Electric Power Company says the water at the base is 10,000 times beyond the legal safety limit. It has been reported they are offering 3,500 euros for one hours work at the plant.

And in a nationwide broadcast Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned there will be no quick solution to the problems. “I am prepared for a long-term battle over the Fukushima nuclear plant and to win this battle,” he said.

Many areas look like rubbish-strewn junk yards with boats still high and dry on the roads. And beyond the power station, radiation 4,000 times the legal limit has been detected in seawater.

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More than 170,000 people are still living in shelters while around 70,000 have been evacuated. Politicians have stressed the operation to move people will be a long-term operation.

In a bid to quell shoppers fears, Fukushima’s farmers turned out in force in the markets of Tokyo with Geiger-counters to show their vegetables had not been contaminated.

The disaster has so far claimed more than 11,000 lives with at least 16,000 missing.

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