IAEA sees "significant progress" on Japan atom crisis

VIENNA, July 22 (Reuters) - Significant progress has been made in efforts to contain and stabilise the situation at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, the head of the United Nations atomic agency said on Friday.

In a statement issued ahead of a visit to Japan next week, Director General Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tokyo Electric Power Co's plan to achieve a cold shutdown by early 2012 "could be possible."

Japan's government said on Tuesday it was on track with efforts to take control of Fukushima but cautioned that a final clean up of the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 would take many years.

Tokyo's update on progress to shut down reactors at the plant came four months after a massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the complex and triggered a series of core meltdowns and explosions.

The Fukushima crisis has prompted a rethink of nuclear power plans worldwide, as well as plans for stricter checks on atomic facilities to avoid any repeat of the disaster.

A cold shutdown means that the uranium at the core is no longer capable of boiling off the water used as a coolant.

Amano stated that "the IAEA welcomes the significant progress the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has achieved overall in implementing its 'Road Map' to contain and stabilise the situation," the Vienna-based agency said in a statement.

Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat, said TEPCO was ahead of the road map schedule in some areas, without giving details.

"Based on their progress to date, the IAEA notes that their plan to achieve 'cold shutdown' by early next year could be possible," the statement said.

Amano will visit the Fukushima plant on July 25.

(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)