nuclear-news

Years to deal with damage and radioactivity at Fukushima nuclear plant

The task at Fukushima Daiichi is especially complicated because it involves at least three damaged reactors and apparent damage to nuclear waste pools……the situation will become much more complicated if workers find fuel melted in the reactor core.

Nuclear Plant Cleanup Will Take Years, Not Months – WSJ.com, 1 April 11, By REBECCA SMITH As Japanese officials struggle to stabilize damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi complex, an international team already is assembling to help them tackle the next big task: the cleanup……

At Fukushima, it is unlikely the reactor pressure vessels will be removed for several decades, experts said, because that allows time for radioactivity to decline.

The task at Fukushima Daiichi is especially complicated because it involves at least three damaged reactors and apparent damage to nuclear waste pools……the situation will become much more complicated if workers find fuel melted in the reactor core. “It becomes a mining operation” to get it out, said Idaho National Lab’s Mr. Akers.

He said that tens of thousands of pounds of rubble had to be drilled and chiseled out of the reactor core at Three Mile Island. That task took several years and the transfer of radioactive casks wasn’t weren’t completed until 1990, a decade after the accident.

Nuclear Plant Cleanup Will Take Years, Not Months – WSJ.com

April 5, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011