Contaminated water has been pouring into the Pacific Ocean from the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant for the past two years, an Industry Ministry official told reporters on Wednesday as PM Shinzo Abe pledged to step up efforts to halt the crisis.

Abe put the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in charge of the situation, while demanding that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) take the necessary steps to deal with the cleanup, which is anticipated to take more than 40 years at a cost of US$11 billion.

Japanese authorities are working in crisis mode, attempting to assure the public both at home and abroad that the situation will not further deteriorate into a widespread environmental catastrophe.

“We think that the volume of water is about 300 tons a day,” said Yushi Yoneyama, an official with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, which regulates TEPCO.

Yoneyama said the government plans to reduce the leakage amount to 60 tons per day by as early as December, but given the Japanese government’s progress in the cleanup to date that goal may be difficult to achieve. Removing 300 tonnes of groundwater, however, would not necessarily halt leakage into the sea, he said.

The nuclear plant was severely damaged in an earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011. About 90,000 people within a 20km radius of the plant were forced to evacuate their homes due to the possibility of a full-scale nuclear meltdown.

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