Update: TEPCo announced it will decommission the four damaged reactors at Fukushima-Daiichi, three weeks after the earthquake. Reactors 5 and 6, which were offline when the quake and tsunamis hit, shut down safely. Cooling pond temperatures elevated in those reactors, but now are within safe levels. Locals will be consulted about their fate according to the utility. In 2002 TEPCo was charged with falsifying plant safety records. Five executives, including the company president, were forced to resign. So sorry! Radioactive iodine in the sea adjacent to the plant reached record levels. The Japanese nuclear safety agency said the amounts were
3,355 times the legal limit.
The process of decommissioning and clean up will take
30 years and cost $12 billion. The single core meltdown at Three Mile Island cost an estimated $1.6 billion and took 15 years to clean up. The sarcophagus at Chernobyl to be in place by 2014 will cost $2.2 billion. Of course, the cost to build and commission the four Daiichi reactors is a complete loss.
Too cheap to meter? US Person doesn't think so. Diablo Canyon, California nuclear power plant sits very near major faults. The plant's
operating license is up for a twenty year renewal. Think about it.
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| credit: NY Times |
{29.3.11}With a full body dose (as distinct from exposure) above 3 Sv, 50% of persons absorbing this much radiation are expected to die within 30 days. Chernobyl heros who died within the year of the April,1986 disaster received 4-16 Sv. Plutonium 238, 239, 240 isotopes have been found in the soil around Fukushima-Daiichi providing more evidence a core meltdown has occurred in which radioactivity is released beyond reactor containment. There is a growing sense of unease in Japan that the nuclear utility, TEPCo, is mishandling the disaster. Experts on the scene quoted by the
Guardian UK say the utility has "lost the race" to save Unit 2. Based on data from the scene, the reactor has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel and onto the concrete and steel drywell (primary containment) beneath. As the lava of molten fuel and cladding escapes, it becomes increasing difficult to cool. If this development is confirmed, the Fukushima meltdown will be classed as one of the most destructive nuclear accidents in history.
