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| Cherenkov Radiation, v>.75c |
Nine months after a tsunami crippled the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station, the Japanese government claims it has achieved a
"cold shut-down" of the station's badly damaged reactors. Experts are not sanguine about the claim. Hiroaki Koide, a professor at Kyoto University's Research Reactor Institute, says there is no such condition at Fukushima and that the battle to contain radiation from the plant will be "a long battle of epic proportions, and by the time it is really over, most of us will be long dead." Kyodo News says the demolition of the reactors could take 40 years. The warning comes
amid fears of re-criticality in some of the reactor cores where melted fuel could threaten groundwater. A water sample from reactor No. 1 reportedly contained
high levels of Cl38. Tepco later denied the reading saying it was due to an error. A
blue light beam was also reported. Spent fuel rods in No.4 reactor building are believed to have damaged the reactor building, the foundation of which is the last barrier before the slag hits earth. The Japanese government announcement is seen as a public relations effort to pacify the public.
A former senior operator of US nuclear plants says the situation at Fukushima is no better than in June. It took thirty months for officials at Three Mile Island to get inside the single reactor that partially melted down. At Fukushima, hydrogen explosions blew apart the No.1, and 3 reactor housings, and damaged No.2. Fires in No. 4 spent fuel pool damaged the reactor building. Fairwinds chief nuclear engineer, Arnie Gunderson, said in a
video interview that the industry use of the term "cold shutdown" is misleading. Molten fuel is still above 100℃, steam is coming from inside Nos. 2 and 3 indicating a breach of containment, and there are radioactive hotspots in the area. Gunderson also said the exaggeration by the Japanese government would "blow up in their face" and further erode public confidence in government's ability to regulate the nuclear power industry.
