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When Nature Is Not Enough
When Nature Is Not Enough
By NASSRINE AZIMI
Published: May 7, 2013
ITSUKUSHIMA Shrine on Miyajima Island, built by the warlord Taira no Kiyomori around 1168, stands at the edge of an inlet of the Inland Sea, not far from Hiroshima. Long regarded as one of Japan’s three most beautiful places, it was registered in 1996 by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.
<snip>
...Some of the problems at the plant initially seemed ludicrous. In March a power outage shut off freshwater cooling systems; it later emerged that a rat had munched through some cables. The imagery of the most globally scrutinized, high-stakes containment effort by the nuclear industry, in one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations brought to a standstill by a lone rodent, seemed surreal yet weirdly apt.
Then, in early April, it was reported that tons of radioactive water may have leaked into the soil from massive containment holes, existing tanks being full to capacity. Some 280,000 tons of contaminated water are currently held on site; fuel rod pools must be kept flooded with water, thus adding 400 tons of radioactive water daily to that load, with no real solution in sight.
Tepco is so chastised by previous accusations of secrecy — or so overwhelmed and numbed by bad news — that it does not even try to hide the severity of challenges it is grappling with. Three power failures in the past five weeks have been enough, though, to convince everyone else that the situation is grave; one can only imagine the sentiments of the local residents and plant workers. By Tepco’s own estimates, confirmed by the I.A.E.A., the hoped-for decommissioning of Daiichi remains up to 40 years away — a long time to count on the benignity of nature.
If rats and radioactive leaks were not enough of a reminder of the dangerous state of the nuclear cleanup efforts...
By NASSRINE AZIMI
Published: May 7, 2013
ITSUKUSHIMA Shrine on Miyajima Island, built by the warlord Taira no Kiyomori around 1168, stands at the edge of an inlet of the Inland Sea, not far from Hiroshima. Long regarded as one of Japan’s three most beautiful places, it was registered in 1996 by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.
<snip>
...Some of the problems at the plant initially seemed ludicrous. In March a power outage shut off freshwater cooling systems; it later emerged that a rat had munched through some cables. The imagery of the most globally scrutinized, high-stakes containment effort by the nuclear industry, in one of the world’s most technologically advanced nations brought to a standstill by a lone rodent, seemed surreal yet weirdly apt.
Then, in early April, it was reported that tons of radioactive water may have leaked into the soil from massive containment holes, existing tanks being full to capacity. Some 280,000 tons of contaminated water are currently held on site; fuel rod pools must be kept flooded with water, thus adding 400 tons of radioactive water daily to that load, with no real solution in sight.
Tepco is so chastised by previous accusations of secrecy — or so overwhelmed and numbed by bad news — that it does not even try to hide the severity of challenges it is grappling with. Three power failures in the past five weeks have been enough, though, to convince everyone else that the situation is grave; one can only imagine the sentiments of the local residents and plant workers. By Tepco’s own estimates, confirmed by the I.A.E.A., the hoped-for decommissioning of Daiichi remains up to 40 years away — a long time to count on the benignity of nature.
If rats and radioactive leaks were not enough of a reminder of the dangerous state of the nuclear cleanup efforts...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/opinion/global/Japans-Shift-From-Nuclear-Energy.html?_r=0
