The International Olympic Committee says it has no health-related concerns about Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympics, despite the continued critical state of the damaged facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
"The IOC received assurances from the highest authority in Japan that the levels in Tokyo and surrounding area are safe, and there is no reason to believe that this will not be the case during the Games," the IOC told DPA, without answering further detailed questions.
However, problems at the plant continue to such an extent that the Japanese government has once again turned overseas for help on the question of the plant, since operator Tepco seems to be overextended.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in early October asked for international support during a Kyoto conference of researchers from abroad.
Shortly before the vote on the host of the 2020 Olympics, Abe reassured members of the IOC that life in Tokyo is normal and "everything is under control".
But bad news has not stopped since the earthquake and tsunami disaster on March 11, 2011, in Fukushima, 250km north of Tokyo.
Contaminated water has seeped from leaky cooling tanks into the Pacific Ocean, and more leaks are feared.
The government is now planning to erect a 1.4 kilometre-long protective wall around the reactors, as well as laying pipes with chemical cooling agents.
The IOC awarded the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo last month, over Istanbul and Madrid.
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