TOKYO: The Japanese government said Friday it will submit a bill to an ordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, starting early next year, to establish an international education and research hub in Fukushima Prefecture.

The research hub will be set up in an area hit hardest by the March 2011 triple reactor meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. It is expected to fully open in fiscal 2024.

The new organization will take a leadership role among research facilities in the northeastern prefecture, government officials said.

Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio pinned high hopes on the project. The research hub is “a dream and hope for Fukushima’s recovery and will contribute to strengthening our country’s scientific and technological capabilities and industrial competiveness,” he told officials.

The government positions the new research hub as the core part of “creative reconstruction” from the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. It is designed to conduct the world’s highest levels of research and development in areas including robots, agriculture and nuclear disasters.

JIJI Press