BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan’s industry minister has promised that the government will now be more directly involved in dealing with the emerging situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company or TEPCO, has also said it will launch a new task force to deal with the massive leakage of radioactive water. The announcement comes after the sheer scale of the leakage was confirmed last week by TEPCO.

Japan’s industry minister has blamed the nuclear plant operator TEPCO for not taking the leakage of radioactive water seriously enough. He has also pledged urgent government action to curb the fallout from the accident.

"As far as handling the contaminated water is concerned, we had been leaving everything to TEPCO," "The way they have been handling the matter has been on a piecemeal basis, by taking care of each problem as it emerged. But from here on, the government will take charge," the Japanese Industry, Trade and Energy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.

Motegi toured the the plant on Monday and said inspections of the tanks would be doubled to four times a day.

TEPCO President Naomi Hirose, who accompanied Motegi, apologized for the leaks and the manner in which the company handled the matter.

"What should never happen, has been happening, and we deeply apologise for the repeated worries that we have caused. We are very sorry," Hirose said.

Hirose added the company is setting up a new task force to better deal with the radioactive water leakage and that he would head it himself.

A tsunami that had crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi power plant north of Tokyo on March the 11th, 2011, caused fuel-rod meltdowns in three reactors. One thousand tanks were built to store water to pump into the three damaged reactors to keep their radioactive fuel cool.

At least five of the tanks at the plant have leaked so far.

Last week, TEPCO said 300 tonnes of highly contaminated water had flowed from one tank, in the worst leak so far. Most of the water is thought to have seeped into the ground, but some may have entered the sea through a rainwater gutter.

The confirmed leakage prompted Japan’s nuclear watchdog to say it feared the disaster was "in some respect" beyond TEPCO’s ability to cope.

Criticism has also targeted the government’s reluctance to involve itself in the crisis, which many believe was a reason for the disaster to go from bad to worse.

(Source: CNTV.cn)