Cleanup work at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant is proceeding smoothly and the prospects are good for bringing it under control, the head of the UN atomic watchdog said on Monday after a visit to the crisis-hit plant. Japan said last week that it was on track with efforts to take control of the Fukushima nuclear plant, more than four months after it was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns and radiation leaks, but cautioned that a final clean-up of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl would take many years. “Looking at the site, work is moving very smoothly,” said Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “So many people are working with passion, so I felt that the outlook is bright,” the veteran diplomat was shown on public broadcaster NHK as telling reporters. Meanwhile, Japan's parliament Monday enacted a $25 billion extra budget to pay for relief and rebuilding after the March 11 quake-tsunami, as Prime Minister Naoto Kan faced mounting pressure to resign. Earlier in the day a ruling party heavyweight suggested Kan could be closer to stepping down with the budget enacted. The upper house approved the two-trillion-yen second extra budget for fiscal 2011 following its passage through the lower house Wednesday. The budget, seen as a stop-gap measure between the initial 4 trillion yen package passed in May and a third extra budget estimated to be around 10 trillion yen, was supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its partner New Komeito.
