Japan to scrap stricken reactors

TOKYO, Mar 30 (agencies): Japan is to decommission four stricken reactors at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, the operator says. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) made the announcement three weeks after failing to bring reactors -- one to four -- under control. Locals would be consulted on reactors -- five and six -- which were shut down safely. Harmful levels of radioactivity have been detected in the area. More than 11,000 people are known to have been killed by the devastating 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Emperor Akihito visited a centre for earthquake and tsunami victims in the Tokyo area on Wednesday. Japan is weighing a series of creative solutions to its unfolding nuclear disaster, from draping reactors with special fabric to sending in military robots to do the risky work. Pressure to think outside the box heightened as TEPCO, which operates the crippled Fukushima plant, admitted it had no idea when the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl would be under control. "Key factors are still unknown, such as how the nuclear incident will come to an end... In a word, the very difficult situation is expected to continue," TEPCO chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata told reporters. One stop-gap measure reported by the local media involved covering three badly damaged outer reactor buildings with special fabric caps and fitting air filters to limit radiation. Another plan was to anchor an empty tanker off reactor two, so that workers can pump several Olympic swimming pools' worth of highly-radioactive runoff water into its hull, media said.