Just when it seemed things might be under control at Fukushima, we find they are worse than ever.
Immeasurably worse.
Massive quan ies of radioactive liquids are now flowing through the shattered reactor site into the Pacific Ocean. And their make-up is far more lethal than the “mere” tritium that has dominated the headlines to date.
Tepco, the owner/operator–and one of the world’s biggest and most technologically advanced electric utilities–has all but admitted it cannot control the situation. Its shoddy performance has prompted former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Dale Klein to charge: “You don’t what you are doing.”
The Japanese government is stepping in. But there is no guarantee–or even likelihood–it will do any better.
In fact, there is no certainty as to what’s causing this out-of-control flow of death and destruction.
The site is still unpredictably radioactive. It remains unclear what has happened to the melted cores of the three exploded reactors.
The recent appearance of a steam plume has raised the specter that fission may still be occurring somewhere in the area.
It is also unclear what will happen to the hundreds of tons of spent fuel perched precariously in a pool 100 feet in the air above Unit Four.
Sustaining that cooling system until the rods can be removed–and it’s unclear when that will happen–is a major challenge.
Should an earthquake come before that’s done, and should those rods go crashing to the ground where they and their zirconium cladding could ignite in the open air, the consequences could only be described as apocalyptic.
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