A team of IAEA experts today began a review of Japan's efforts and plans to decommission TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Requested by the government of Japan, the IAEA mission will spend nearly two weeks in Japan visiting the nuclear accident site and meeting with a wide variety of relevant officials and institutions.

The mission, an independent peer review, will assess Japan's Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap towards the Decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Units 1-4.

In particular, the 19-member team will review efforts to manage contaminated water at the accident site and to remove fuel assemblies from the Spent Fuel Pool at Unit 4.

In addition, the mission will assess marine monitoring activities taking into account findings of the IAEA marine monitoring experts' visit to Japan in early November.

"The mission team has recruited experts in various scientific and technical disciplines to assess the situation. We will be in Japan for about two weeks and will meet with the relevant institutions regarding the decommissioning program at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi. A visit to the site is also scheduled," said team leader Juan Carlos Lentijo, Director of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology.

The team will deliver a draft report summary to the public when the mission ends on 4 December 2013.