Japan PM orders proactive government role to clean up Fukushima

Members of a Fukushima prefecture panel, which monitors the safe decommissioning of the nuclear plant, inspect the construction site of the shore barrier, which is meant to stop radioactive water from leaking into the sea, near the No.1 and No.2 reactor building of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, in this photo released by Kyodo August 6, 2013.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the industry ministry on Wednesday to take appropriate measures to tackle the "urgent issue" of radioactive water building up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry needed to be more proactive role in dealing with the problems at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi plant, Abe told reporters after attending a meeting of the government's task force on the nuclear disaster.

He stopped short of committing government funds to deal with the mounting levels of radioactive water.

Tokyo Electric has been widely castigated for its failure to protect the Fukushima plant, 220 km (130 miles) northeast of Tokyo, from the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to the worst nuclear disaster in the world since Chernobyl and its inept response to the reactor meltdowns.

(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick)