[ RadSafe ] Mission Impossible at Fukushima as nuclear fuel is melting down daily

[Roger Helbig]

This claim by Japanese legislator (Diet Member) that fuel elements are
melting down daily is the lead for this Nuclear-News post that begins
with genuine articles about the complexity of the cleanup being
unprecedented.  The Diet Member, though, seems to be more into
imagining things rather than into the reality of what is happening at
Fukushima.  Perhaps some Japanese members of the list might like to
inform him of what really is happening and suggest that he tone down
his claims.


Roger Helbig

Taro Yamamoto, member of the Diet of Japan -- House of Councillors
representing Tokyo, published Feb 5, 2015: "In Fukushima, each reactor
has about 90 tons [90,000 kg or ~200,000 lbs] of uranium. These are
melting down daily."

Watch Yamamoto's interview here on YouTube -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bySXUAXt5hE#t=109


Mission Impossible at Fukushima as nuclear fuel is melting down daily

by Christina MacPherson

Associated Press, Feb 6, 2015 (emphasis added): A snake-like robot
designed to examine the inside of one of three melted reactors at the
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is ready to begin its expedition...
Using information gathered by the robot [TEPCO] plans to repair the
damaged chambers enough so they can be filled with water... It is
expected to enter the Unit 1 reactor as early as April... Expectations
for the robot probe are high after earlier efforts at assessment
produced limited success... After its trip, technicians plan to store
the robot in a shielded box because of its extremely high
radioactivity, and it will not be reused... Computer simulations
indicate that all of the fuel rods in the Unit 1 reactor probably
melted and fell to the bottom of the containment chamber, but until
now there has been no way of confirming that... Because of the reactor
damage, large volumes of cooling water continue to leak from them,
causing contamination and hampering the plant's cleanup process.

Wall St. Journal, Feb 6, 2015: For the first time since the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, engineers working for [TEPCO]
could soon get their first view of nuclear fuel and debris around the
melted-down reactors. It is widely believed that during the meltdowns
of reactors No. 1-3... the overheated nuclear fuel also flowed out into
the reactor vessels... Extracting the nuclear fuel and debris is the
mostimportant task involved in decommissioning... But nobody knows what
state these deadly materials are in-even the radiation around the
buildings storing the reactors is far too high for people to
withstand... Now it is ready to examine the fuel and debris, perhaps as
soon as April, with the help of a new robot...

The Economist, Feb 7, 2015: Mission impossible; An industrial clean-up
without precedent - The stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is
the world's most complex and costly industrial clean-up... TEPCO's early
guess was that decommissioning would take 30-40 years. That is
certainly optimistic. Engineers are grappling with problems with
little precedent... Last October the utility pushed back the start of
this removal work by five years, to 2025. Dale Klein, [Tepco adviser
and former NRC chairman] says that the schedule for decommissioning
the plant is pure supposition until engineers figure out how to remove
all the fuel.

Taro Yamamoto, member of the Diet of Japan -- House of Councillors
representing Tokyo, published Feb 5, 2015: "In Fukushima, each reactor
has about 90 tons [90,000 kg or ~200,000 lbs] of uranium. These are
melting down daily."

http://nuclear-news.net/2015/02/13/mission-impossible-at-fukushima-as-nuclear-fuel-is-melting-down-daily/