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The Fukushima Daiichi disaster: 4 years on
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | McCurry, Justin |
| Copyright Year | 2015 |
| Abstract | 4 years after the Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered the world's worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century, the clean-up operation is making steady progress. But myriad challenges lie ahead, not least for the tens of thousands of evacuees who are battling to rebuild their shattered lives. Decommissioning the facility, which suffered a triple meltdown after it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, is expected to take at least another 40 years and cost tens of billions of dollars. Its operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), and its vast network of contractors deserve credit for some recent successes, including the removal of 1331 used fuel assemblies from a storage pool inside one of four reactor buildings that were rocked by hydrogen explosions. “This was a big step forward in the decommissioning process”, Yuichi Kagami, who oversaw the fuel removal, said during a recent visit to the plant by The Lancet and other foreign media organisations. But Tepco has made much slower progress in addressing the perennial problem of the build-up of huge quantities of contaminated water. Offi cials estimate that about 400 tonnes of radioactive water are being generated every day when groundwater flows from the surrounding mountains and into the basements of three reactors that suffered meltdowns. There, it mixes with water used to prevent melted fuel from overheating. More than 200 000 tonnes of water are being stored in about 1000 giant tanks. “The contaminated water is the most pressing issue, there is no doubt about that”, said Akira Ono, the plant's manager. “Our efforts to address the problem are at their peak now.” Tepco is working on a series of measures it hopes will solve the water problem, including the construction of a ¥32 billion underground ice wall to prevent groundwater from mixing with toxic coolant water, and the introduction of new apparatus that can remove dozens of radioactive elements from contaminated water. |
| Starting Page | e23 |
| Ending Page | e24 |
| Page Count | 2 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60302-6 |
| PubMed reference number | 25769362 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 385 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/pii/S0140673615603026 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673615603026?dgcid=api_sd_search-api-endpoint |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736%2815%2960302-6 |
| Journal | The Lancet |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
