nuclear-news

Dealing with wrecked Fukushima nuclear reactors will take decades

Three decades needed to make Fukushima safe, ABC News, By North Asia correspondent, October 28, 2011  30 years to decommission: Inside the Fukushima nuclear plant A draft report by Japan’s nuclear agency says it will take more than 30 years to decommission the shattered Fukushima nuclear plant.

Authorities hope to have the stricken reactors in a state of cold shutdown by the end of the year. The draft report from the cabinet’s nuclear agency estimates that reactors number one through to four at the Fukushima plant will not be fully decommissioned until 2042.

As well as achieving cold shutdown of the reactors, each reactor building has to be decontaminated, and then fuel from the spent fuel pools has to be collected.

The final stage involves collecting nuclear fuel from inside the four reactors. Reactors one, two and three all suffered meltdowns after a tsunami slammed into the plant in March… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-28/fukushima-nuclear-decommission/3605094/?site=melbourne

October 28, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, Japan