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1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water and nowhere to put it – Fukushima’s continued legacy

Japan grappling with 1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water and nowhere to put it   Japan has a crisis on its hands at the site of the country’s worst natural disaster. One challenge it faces has been deemed near-impossible. NZ Herald,  Rohan Smith– 11 March 21, 

On the site of Japan’s nuclear disaster, 10 years on from the meltdown that changed the world forever, authorities are grappling with impossible choices.

Today marks a decade since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Towns surrounding the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi plant have long since been abandoned but the fallout from the March 11, 2011 event is far from over.

Every single day, 100 tonnes of groundwater seeps into one of the broken reactor basements at the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

That’s a problem because the water is mixing with radioactive debris and needs to be treated and stored. But TEPCO has more than 1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water sitting in storage tanks that are very quickly running out of capacity.

Estimates suggest the tanks will reach overflow point next year. And one of the choices on the table for Japanese authorities is hugely unpopular and potentially devastating: Release more than 1 million tonnes of the treated radioactive water into the sea.

On the site of Japan’s nuclear disaster, 10 years on from the meltdown that changed the world forever, authorities are grappling with impossible choices.

It is not the only problem that needs solving. There is a far more dangerous situation unfolding in several of the plant’s damaged reactors.

According to local reports, there is still 900 tonnes of melted reactor debris inside three reactors that experienced meltowns. The plan to extract it was described by the Times as “near-impossible” because “the radioactivity remains extremely high near the reactor containment vessels — enough to instantly kill a human and to disable a robot.”

The plan is to decommission the plant by 2051.

Pictures from abandoned properties in the original exclusion zone show weeds growing around homes that were vacated in a hurry.   ….  more https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/japan-grappling-with-12-million-tonnes-of-radioactive-water-and-nowhere-to-put-it/33TKZUD6JM4GHFJSMIBZ3WZKVY/

March 11, 2021 - Posted by | Fukushima continuing

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