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| Nat.Geo.: Unit 4 |
Fewer posts on the Fukushima-Daichi meltdown does not mean the disaster is going away. It simply reflects the extreme gravity of the situation and the fact that the
evasive owner of the utility, TEPCo, is essentially powerless to do anything constructive to stabilize what has become a giant source of radioactive fallout that is slowly poisoning the surrounding sea and countryside. That is the difference between the damage caused by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami and the destruction of the nuclear power plant. Ordinary debris can be cleaned up and dumped in landfills to clear the way for reconstruction. Nuclear waste and debris keep emitting toxins for hundreds of years. As
US Person wrote previously, the area around Fukushima has become a nuclear sacrifice zone out to a radius of about 30 miles. Two more towns, Minamisoma City and Date City
will probably have to be evacuated because of high radiation levels in the soil. Both are outside the current evacuation zone. Inside the plant itself, radiation levels exceed 400rems/hr, far too high for humans to work safely even wearing protective gear. Temperatures inside the melting reactors, 1,2, and 3 are above the boiling point of water, so radioactive steam continues to be emitted and radioactive water leaked to the surrounding environment. Unit 4 did not meltdown because there were no fuel rods in the reactor core at the time of the earthquake.
