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Japan Opens Fukushima Nuclear Plant to Media


Japanese officials wearing protective suits and masks ride in the back of a bus while a second bus carrying officials and Japanese journalists follow as they drive through the contaminated exclusion zone on their way to the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuc
Japanese officials wearing protective suits and masks ride in the back of a bus while a second bus carrying officials and Japanese journalists follow as they drive through the contaminated exclusion zone on their way to the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuc

Japanese officials took a group of journalists inside the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex for the first time Saturday to show how the situation in the plant has stabilized since it was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Reporters saw trucks flipped over by the huge wave, crumbling reactor buildings and piles of rubble nearly untouched since the tsunami struck more than eight months ago.

Journalists had to wear full-body protective suits, then undergo radiation screening after the tour.

Japan's government and Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, say work is on track to achieve a cold shutdown, in which reactor temperatures are cool and under control.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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