The Robots Sent Into Fukushima Have 'Died'

[master_shake_]

Reuters) - The robots sent in to find highly radioactive fuel at Fukushima's nuclear reactors have “died”: a subterranean "ice wall" around the crippled plant meant to stop groundwater from becoming contaminated has yet to be finished. And authorities still don’t how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site. Five years ago, one of the worst earthquakes in history triggered a 10-meter high tsunami that crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station causing multiple meltdowns. Nearly 19,000 people were killed or left missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods.
Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it has proven impossible to get into its bowels to find and remove the extremely dangerous blobs of melted fuel rods.

The fuel rods melted through their containment vessels in the reactors, and no one knows exactly where they are now. This part of the plant is so dangerous to humans, Tepco has been developing robots, which can swim under water and negotiate obstacles in damaged tunnels and piping to search for the melted fuel rods.

http://www.newsweek.com/robots-sent-fukushima-have-died-435332

 

[PlanetJosh]

Just lift the contaminated tanks out and bury them somewhere else.

Ok so it's not that easy, the bad water can spill out during such an operation and get into the soil.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Scary to think that the cleanup there is probably not going to be completed in my lifetime

 

[Ruptga]

Scary to think that the cleanup there is probably not going to be completed in my lifetime

Yep, but it's not really surprising that half-assing the operation of a nuclear power plant has some drawbacks.

 

[Imp]

Last I heard, it's leaking. Sucks to be a left coaster.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Last I heard, it's leaking. Sucks to be a left coaster.

Uh, all the oceans are connected.

 

[SSSnail]

Last I heard, it's leaking. Sucks to be a left coaster.

Whatever dude, these new fins and gills have helped my aquatic activities greatly.

 

[Imp]

Uh, all the oceans are connected.

True, but to make it to the right coast, it'll have to deal with pirates, igloos, and coffee beans first. Take that, radiation!

 

[Howard]

Uh, all the oceans are connected.

No problems for those on the east coast.

 

[Franz316]

Do they know if the molten cores are still within the vessels? If those things melt through and make it into the water table..

 

[Jaskalas]

Scary to think that the cleanup there is probably not going to be completed in my lifetime

Fukushima will likely leave its stain on Japan for longer than humans have known fire.

 

[Dude111]

Last I heard, it's leaking. Sucks to be a left coaster.

Yes.....The situation is worse than ppl are being led to believe!!

 

[Miramonti]

Seafood. Yay.

 

[Ruptga]

Fukushima will likely leave its stain on Japan for longer than humans have known fire.

It's bad, but 125k years of measurable bad? I doubt that.

 

[JSt0rm]

this is the problem with nuke. Even if we only have 1 accident every 70 years its a 20,000 year accident. Thats insane.

 

[JSt0rm]

Do they know if the molten cores are still within the vessels? If those things melt through and make it into the water table..

no. I dont think they know.

 

[JSt0rm]

yeah from the article:

The fuel rods melted through their containment vessels in the reactors, and no one knows exactly where they are now. This part of the plant is so dangerous to humans, Tepco has been developing robots, which can swim under water and negotiate obstacles in damaged tunnels and piping to search for the melted fuel rods.

They are saying just to clean up and contain is gonna be 40 years. lmao.

 

[John Connor]

this is the problem with nuke. Even if we only have 1 accident every 70 years its a 20,000 year accident. Thats insane.

Plan ahead and use common sense. Should have had the backup generators up high so that sea water would never have flooded them...

But what do I know? :\

 

[Imp]

Don't worry, everyone. Another Japanese nuke plant sits on top of a fault line. Thank goodness there earthquakes are few and far between in Japan.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...clear-plant-sitting-on-active-fault-line.html

P.S. They sent volunteers into the Fuk-u-shima after the accident. Haven't heard much about what happened to them... how are they? Can imagine from Chernobyl stories.

 

[John Connor]

P.S. They sent volunteers into the Fuk-u-shima after the accident. Haven't heard much about what happened to them... how are they? Can imagine from Chernobyl stories.

I see what you did there.

 

[Red Squirrel]

People freak out at the dangers of nuclear, but let's not forget all the oil related disasters such as the gulf oil spills and countless pipe line and train spills too. Just because it's not in your back yard does not mean it's not causing havoc to the environment.

Though it is quite impressive that the radiation is actually powerful enough to melt stuff without direct contact. That's basically how it's killing the robots, the actual wiring is melting as soon as the robot gets into line of sight of the reactor. That is pretty crazy.

If governments and corporations stopped trying to skimp on safety and due diligence these kinds of disasters would not happen though.

 

[JSt0rm]

If humans weren't human we wouldn't have these problems. - red squirrel.

 

[John Connor]

People freak out at the dangers of nuclear, but let's not forget all the oil related disasters such as the gulf oil spills and countless pipe line and train spills too. Just because it's not in your back yard does not mean it's not causing havoc to the environment.

Though it is quite impressive that the radiation is actually powerful enough to melt stuff without direct contact. That's basically how it's killing the robots, the actual wiring is melting as soon as the robot gets into line of sight of the reactor. That is pretty crazy.

If governments and corporations stopped trying to skimp on safety and due diligence these kinds of disasters would not happen though.

+1 for natural gas. We have plenty of it.

Actually. I wonder how that situation is going in Cali. LOL

 

[sdifox]

Time to send in G.O.R.T.

Where is Klatuu?

 

[Sonikku]

Wind mill ftw