Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster

Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO Chief of Decommissioning at the Fukushima Diiachi Nuclear Power Plant, has finally revealed that 600 tons of hot molten core, or corium, is missing. This is a problem that nobody has experience with, as it is a 100% meltdown, possibly burrowed into the ground. Masuda has acknowledged that Japan does not yet possess the technology to extract the melted uranium fuel. 

In comparison, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Russian teams of workers managed to contain the melted core, known as the Elephant’s Foot, in the facility’s lowest level. Whilst “frying 30 workers” along the way, they contained it just enough to prevent burrowing into the ground, maybe. This is still a highly charged radioactive massive hunk of goo that will not die or waste away. 

In order to prevent further releases of radiation, an innovative, €1.5 billion super-structure is being built to replace the older collapsing sarcophagus. This structure will contain up to 80% of the original radioactive material left after the meltdown. 

The risks of using nuclear power to boil water are evident, and the sun and wind could be used as alternatives. These renewable sources of energy are not radioactive and still much faster than rubbing two sticks together. The situation at Fukushima is a stark reminder of the potential dangers of nuclear power and the need for alternative energy sources.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has been described as three times worse than the Chernobyl incident, with the possibility that the white-hot melted corium has already started to burrow into the Earth. This has led to questions about the security of nuclear power, and the potential for a decade-long cleanup effort. Prime Minister Abe has come under scrutiny for his statement to the International Olympic Committee that the disaster is “under control”, while Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics was based on a much lower budget than rival Istanbul. This has raised questions about the potential for state secrets to impede investigations. The Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets (SDS) Act No. 108 of 2013, which allows for the prosecution of those who leak state secrets, has been criticised for undermining democracy. As Albert Einstein once said, “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.” It remains to be seen how the situation in Fukushima will develop in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics, and whether the full extent of the disaster will be revealed.

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