On 3/11/2016, Earth will "celebrate" the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Disaster, in which the great Japanese earthquake and tsunami took out at least 4 nuclear reactors at a Fukushima nuclear power reservation. What are the results of this worldwide disaster, from the perspective of five years out?
1. Missing Corium. Three operating nuclear reactors experienced loss of coolant, grid power loss, loss of backup generators, and failure of all redundant safety systems. These 3 reactors suffered a total meltout of their atomic cores. Two blew up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp77oZ0yt-I. The three missing cores have not yet even been located. The reactor ruins remain too radioactive for workers to enter, and the radiation seems to be too much for robots to function well. Without knowing where those melted nuclear cores are, without an accurate 3D map of the missing cores, no long-term planning is possible.
2. Little Progress. Progress at the site has been lacking recently. Plans to video the interior of Units 1&2 Containment Vessels are on hold. The Frozen Wall project has been on hold. So, the underground river has yet to be diverted around the reactor ruins. Muon imaging has failed to find any corium inside reactors or containments. Little to show for five years of Tepco "effort".
3. Spent Fuel. Fuel has been removed from the spent fuel pool of Unit 4. Removal of spent fuel from Unit 3 will begin in 2017. Spent fuel has not been removed from the spent fuel pools of Units1-3, Units5&6, and the common spent fuel pool. Work on a dry cask storage yard for cooled spent fuel has not begun.
4. Underground River Flows. An underground river under the plant, which flows at an estimated rate of 1,000 tonnes per day, has yet to be diverted around the reactor ruins. Corium is being washed into the Pacific Ocean day and night, with no end in sight. An underground Frozen Wall has been on hold, in a disagreement over how to proceed. Late word is that the wall will be tested soon.
5. Pacific Ocean Dieoff. Numerous stories of mass dieoffs of many species of wildlife have begun to surface in the mainstream press. See any of the recent stories on ENEnews,com, which has been cataloging the extensive dieoff. The Pacific Ocean Ecosystem appears to be in real trouble.
6. Tokyo Evacuation. Tokyo has yet to be evacuated. It appears that drinking water contains substantial amounts of Iodine-131, which has a half-life of only 8 days, and is definitely from ongoing criticalities within the missing corium at Fukushima. Ongoing spikes in Iodine-131 in sewage sludge indicate that Fukushima corium is still fissioning.
http://optimalprediction.com/wp/iodine-131-rises-in-chiba-prefecture/
And, where there is one isotope, there are probably hundreds of isotopes present. Evacuation of Tokyo is a logistical nightmare, and would ruin the Japanese economy, which is already in recession. So, year after year goes by without the necessary evacuation taking place. And, all the while, criticalities within the Fukushima corium, seem to be rising (not falling) over time, as seen in the graphs of Iodine-131 in Tokyo sewage sludge.
Conclusion: Sequester? Sarcophagus? Removal of debris to a long-term repository? No plan can be formulated, and little progress can be made at Fukushima, unless the 3 missing cores are located and mapped.
Tepco, the entire world wants to know:
"Where are the 3 missing cores?"
PhilipUpNorth 2016
Circulate freely.
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