"AP Interview: Fukushima Chief Says 'No Textbook' for Cleanup"

"TOKYO — The man leading the daunting task of dealing with the Fukushima nuclear plant that sank into meltdowns in northeastern Japan warns with surprising candor: Nothing can be promised.

How long will it take to decommission the three breached reactors, and how will it be accomplished, when not even robots have been able to enter the main fuel-debris areas so far? How much will it ultimately cost? Naohiro Masuda, tapped last year as chief of decontamination and decommissioning for plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co., acknowledges he is a long way from answering those questions definitively.

'This is something that has never been experienced. A textbook doesn't exist for something like this,' Masuda told The Associated Press in an interview at TEPCO's Tokyo headquarters Monday."

Yuri Kageyama reports for the Associated Press December 15, 2015.