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‘Bold and drastic’ action essential at Fukushima

Japan’s nuclear watchdog urges ‘bold and drastic’ action at Fukushima Raw Story, By Agence France-Presse   Monday, October 28, 2013  Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Monday urged “bold and drastic” action to fix problems with radioactive water at Fukushima, as it warned of the growing risks over coming months.

Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, told the president of operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) that no expense should be spared in getting to grips with the water leaks that have beset the plant over the last half-a-year.

He also told Naomi Hirose that the removal of spent nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool, which is due to begin next month, would be a difficult and complicated task……. Tanaka also urged TEPCO to exercise the utmost caution when it starts taking used nuclear fuel rods from a cooling pool at Reactor No.4.

In what is widely acknowledged to be the trickiest operation since the overheating reactor cores were stabilized in December 2011, TEPCO plans to take more than 1,000 fuel assemblies (bundles of rods) from the pool using a crane.

The assemblies must be moved one at a time and have to be kept in water to prevent them from spontaneously heating up. “Once a problem occurs, the risks will grow,” Tanaka told the TEPCO chief, according to Ikeda. “I would like you to do it very carefully.”

Hirose said he was fully aware of the possible dangers surrounding the operation, saying the firm would closely work with expert companies on site.

The full decommissioning of Fukushima is likely to take decades and include tasks that have never been attempted anywhere in the world, such as the removal of reactor cores that have probably melted beyond recognition.

Meanwhile, villages and towns nearby remain largely empty, their residents unable or unwilling to return to live in the shadow of the leaking plant because of the fear of radiation. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/28/japans-nuclear-watchdog-urges-bold-and-drastic-action-at-fukushima/

October 30, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2013, Japan, safety