Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will tell the International Olympic Committee that leaks of radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will pose no problem in hosting the 2020 Olympics.
Abe was speaking to reporters as he left for the Group of 20 meeting in St. Petersburg, which he will leave early to make a final presentation to the IOC in Buenos Aires before it picks the 2020 host city on Sept. 7. Tokyo is the odds-on favorite to win against bids from Istanbul and Madrid, according to online gambling data website OddsChecker.com.
Tokyo’s bid committee has said hosting the Games in the Japanese capital would help the country throw off the gloom of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. Last month a new crisis broke out over contaminated water leaking from the plant and the government said this week it would spend 47 billion yen ($472 million) on fixing the leaks, including freezing soil around the reactors.
Continue reading at Abe Says Fukushima Will Be Resolved Before 2020 Olympics
