nuclear-news

Syndic Literary Journal No. 10, by poet Taki Yuriko and translated by John Saxon, Dec. 2013:

Excerpts from ‘Fukushima has an Ongoing Melt-Out’

On March 11, 2011, Pandora’s Box was opened.
TEPCO reports, “1000 tons of groundwater Flow daily into the reactor structure. Half the contaminated water is Pumped into land tanks, but Half leaks out to sea”
In short, Melted nuclear fuel has accumulated In the reactor bottom – Meltdown.
But now it has breached the reactor bottom, Leaking out of the containment vessel – Melt-through.
Containment vessels have at least two openings, An entrance for ground water and An exit for contaminated water. Nuclear fuel mixing With the ground water and Leaking into the sea – Melt-out!
Is this not The worst possible outcome?
But they deliberately hide the danger, Removing key terms from their reports.
With the kind of disaster Never seen in human history and Imagined only in movies, Why is there no clear admission?
The Japanese government says it can retire these plants within forty years. But only if robots can be developed in ten years To replace the human workers And determine where the problem is Inside the highly radioactive reactor. “Where the problem is?!”
It’s the “hole” through which the Melted nuclear fuel is leaking! Why don’t they SAY THAT?!Tokyo Shinbun editorial (pdf), Aug. 22, 2013: “After the massive accident at Fukushima, we are now in a situation in which massive accidents occur daily.”

Japan Times, Commentary by Prof. Christopher Hobson of Waseda University: Apr. 24, 2014: […] many serious challenges lie ahead. There will be more leaks and problems at the No. 1 plant. There will also have to be the controlled release of contaminated water into the ocean. Public support and understanding will be needed through these difficult processes. For this to happen, Tepco needs to begin to rebuild its credibility with the public […] Tepco’s regaining the trust of Japan’s public is just as difficult a task as resolving the technical challenges in decommissioning the plant. The only way this might happen is […] to be more honest and transparent about the problems in Fukushima.

View the complete poem by Taki Yuriko here