Fukushima cleanup plan tweak

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A8

September 27, 2017

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Fukushima cleanup plan tweak

Source: AP | 00:01 UTC+8 September 27, 2017 |

Print Edition

Japan’s government yesterday approved a revision to its 30-to-40-year plan to decommission the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The revision means delaying by two more years the removal of radioactive fuel rods in two of the three reactors damaged in the 2011 disaster.

Six-and-half years since an earthquake and tsunami struck the plant on Japan’s northeastern coast, the amount of contaminated water that must be pumped out and treated every day has significantly decreased, and robots have seen a limited view of melted fuel debris inside the reactor.

However, the exact location of the melted fuel inside the reactors is largely unknown and robots that can withstand the high radiation enough to work there are still being developed.

The decommissioning plan, which is the second one approved since the disaster, calls for the melted nuclear fuel to be removed starting in 2021, citing recent findings on more efficient methods.

But the plan still lacks details on the duration of the melted fuel removal, how the radioactive waste will ultimately be stored and the final status of the plant itself, raising doubts about if the cleanup can really be completed in 40 years.

World

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Fukushima cleanup plan tweak

Email this to your friend