Mexico vows to take Bolivia to court over embassy spat Japan revises Fukushima clean-up plan, delays steps

MEXICO CITY: Mexico has threatened to take Bolivia to the International Court of Justice over what it calls harassment of its diplomatic mission in La Paz, after its embassy sheltered some 20 officials from the former government.

The two countries have been in a spiralling spat since Mexico granted asylum to Bolivian ex-president Evo Morales, who resigned on November 10 in the face of mass protests, and granted refuge to top officials from his leftist government at its embassy.

Mexico accuses Bolivia's new interim government of responding with a campaign of "harassment and intimidation" by deploying a large contingent of police and intelligence officers outside the embassy. That move, according to Mexico, violates the 1961 Vienna Convention on the protected status of diplomatic missions.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said his staff would file a complaint later Thursday with the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

"We are simply proposing that the integrity of our diplomatic installations, which are Mexican territory, be respected and preserved... as well as that of the people inside," he said.

He called for the international community's help to resolve the "emergency."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that "not even (Augusto) Pinochet," the late Chilean dictator, had violated foreign diplomatic missions so egregiously during his regime's campaign to wipe out leftist opponents.

"Let's hope they think things over and respect the right to asylum," said Lopez Obrador, a leftist leader elected last year.

Mexico's top diplomat for Latin America, Maximiliano Reyes, called for a meeting in a third country to resolve the standoff.

Bolivia's interim government denied wrongdoing and accused Mexican officials of a "flagrant contradiction," saying Mexico itself had requested increased security at its embassy and ambassador's residence on three occasions.

TOKYO: Japan on Friday revised a roadmap for the cleanup of the tsunamiwrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, further delaying the removal of thousands of spent fuel units that remain in cooling pools since the 2011 disaster.

It's a key step in the decadeslong process, complicated by high radiation and other risks.

The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, are keeping a 30- to 40-year completion target.

More than 4,700 units of fuel rods remain at the three melted reactors and two others that survived the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

They pose a high risk because their storage pools are uncovered and a loss of water in case of another major disaster could cause the fuel rods to melt, releasing massive radiation.

Their removal at Units 1 and 2, after repeated delays, is now postponed by up to 10 years from the initial target of 2018, with more preparation needed to reduce radiation and clear debris and other risks.

Fuel rod removal at the Unit 1 reactor pool will begin sometime in 2027-2028, after debris is cleaned up and a huge rooftop cover installed to contain radioactive dust.

Fuel removal at Unit 2 pool is to begin in 2024-2026. Work at the Unit 3 reactor pool began in April 2019 and all 566 units will be removed by March 2021. TEPCO has emptied the pool at Unit 4, which was offline and only suffered building damage, and aims to have all remaining rods in reactor pools removed by 2031 for safer storage in dry casks.

TEPCO has been unable to release the 1.2 million tons of treated but still radioactive water kept in nearly 1,000 tanks at the plant, fearing public repercussions and the impact on the area's struggling fishing and agriculture.

The amount of water is growing by 170 tons daily because it is used to cool the melted fuel inside the reactors.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently drafted a proposal to release the water to the sea or the air, or a combination of both. TEPCO says it can only store up to 1.37 million tons, or until the summer of 2022. Time is limited because preparation is needed before any water release.

TEPCO and the government say the tanks pose risks if they were to spill their contents in another major earthquake, tsunami or flood. They also need to free up space to build storage for melted fuel removed from reactors beginning 2021.

The water is still somewhat contaminated, but TEPCO says further treatment can remove all but radioactive tritium to levels allowed for release.