Tokyo, Fukushima Brace for Typhoon of the Decade

Tokyo is bracing itself for the landfall of Typhoon Wipha, which is expected to arrive Wednesday with the strength of a Category 1 hurricane before it moves north along the Japan coast toward the beleaguered Fukushima nuclear campus.

Tokyo's 30 million residents -- packed into one of the most densely populated areas in the world -- may face cancellations of public transportation services and other disruptions during rush hour Wednesday morning.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said that the storm will be the strongest to hit Tokyo in a decade, warning of strong winds, high waves and heavy rainfall across a wide swath of land.

Winds from Wipha have been recorded as fast as 120 mph, and while at sea it generated sustained winds of 87 mph, the Meteorological Agency said.

After the storm makes landfall, it is expected to move north toward the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear campus.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), said it will suspend offshore activities and consider suspending onshore activities after they assess the storm's progress.

"We are making preparations for proper management of contaminated water. . . . We will patrol places that could have inflows of water (from the storm)," a Tepco spokesman said, according to the Kyodo News agency.

The typhoon looms over the broken nuclear plant at a time when Tepco is about to embark on one of its most critical tasks in the clean-up mission: removing the fuel rods from one of the worst-hit reactors.

After an embarrassing string of mishaps, including numerous leaks and spills of radioactive water, the public confidence in Tepco is weak, and many critics have questioned its ability to handle the clean-up operations, let alone the extraordinarily dangerous and delicate task of removing the fuel rods.

A mishap could lead to a nuclear incident far greater than the initial meltdown that occurred after the strongest earthquake in Japan's history triggered a devastating tsunami that overcame the nuclear campus and a huge swath of the Japan coast in March 2011.

"The two-and-a-half years of struggling by the state and by TEPCO have proven that nuclear accidents cannot be coped with by electric companies or by a single state. That's why Japan should ask for international cooperation," said Mitsuhei Murata, Japan's former ambassador to Switzerland and an anti-nuclear campaigner, according to Voice of America.

"The Unit 4 contains 10 times more Cesium-137 than Chernobyl. So in case the worst occurs, a total withdrawal [from the site] will be imposed, which means this can be considered as the beginning of the ultimate catastrophe of the world and the planet," Murata said.