By Jade Medrano

Since the nuclear disaster four years ago, one of the on-going problems at Fukushima Daiichi involves cleaning up at the disaster site, ensuring that the reactors remain stable, and preventing the nuclear fuel from leaking through the last inches of concrete and into the ground and sea. First, this page will address the current state of the reactors. Then it will describe some of the problems that continue to affect the nuclear plant and the surrounding areas. Finally, it will look at the schedule for completing the cleanup, and will examine the problems that stand in the way of finishing the cleanup on time.

 

The Fukushima Reactors Today

Since March 11, 2011, the day of the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, TEPCO has been struggling to decontaminate the area and prevent the spill of nuclear waste into the ground and the ocean. According to The Economist, the cleanup of the plant is “the world’s most complex and costly,”[1] and in the last four years, the government has spent $13.5 billion on decontamination efforts outside of the reactors.

Most recently, Professor Hiroaki Koide, a Japanese nuclear expert at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute has stated that it is “simply impossible to remove melted fuel from Fukushima,” and that it is illogical for TEPCO to think that the fuel removal process will be simple. Additionally, Professor Koide remarked that the only possible way to deal with the accident would be to create “a concrete coffin or sarcophagus” for the facility, as was done at Chernobyl, as the nuclear fuel at the facility has melted and is not sitting on the floor in a lump, as TEPCO claims it to be. The professor also criticized TEPCO and the government for their plan to “pluck” the melted fuel from the reactors and move it to a safe location, noting that there would be no way for the company to remove all of the fuel, and stating that the work to deal with the accident would take tens to hundreds of years.[2]

 

Continuing Problems

Rather than declare the region directly affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster uninhabitable, TEPCO is attempting to decontaminate the area in order to allow citizens to return to their homes.  This means the company has to dig up radioactive soil, remove contaminated brush and debris, and prevent radioactive water from leaking into the soil and the ocean. These are the main problems that TEPCO faces as the decontamination processes continue. Additionally, the company must hire workers to wipe down roofs, gutters and walls, “scrape several inches of soil off the most contaminated farmland and replace it,”[3] and remove leaves covered in radioactive material that have since fallen to the ground and been covered by seasons of growth. However, the government and TEPCO must also figure out what to do with the radioactive debris collected; as Makinen describes (click through link below to access video), giant trash bags are beginning to buildup everywhere along the roads in Japan, totaling more than 5.5 million.

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-fukushima-nuclear-cleanup-20150311-story.html#page=1 (click through to view video)

Bags full of contaminated soil and leaves are gathered at a dump site in Minammisōma.[4]

 

This year, TEPCO devised a plan to construct a massive landfill that is expected to hold between 16 million and 22 million bags of radioactive debris. Despite this plan, land-owners are unwilling to sell their land for the construction of the landfill, and it would take decades to transport and fill the landfill with the bags of radioactive waste. Because of this, the plan has been deemed “nearly impossible.”[5]

In addition, TEPCO must find a way to dispose of contaminated water, resulting from the reactor cooling process, leaking from the reactor vessels, or from runoff from the mountains that surround the region, and which is currently being held in vast storage tanks. It is estimated that 300 to 400 tons of water become contaminated each day, 300 tons of groundwater flowing into the harbor are being contaminated daily,[6] and more than 500,000 tons of contaminated water have been put into storage containers already.[7]

This photo shows the reactors (right) and the storage tanks for contaminated water (left) at Fukushima Daiichi on March 3, 2013.[8]

 

In 2013, TEPCO announced an plan to dump the contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, but faced backlash from citizens and fisherman, who were worried that the water would not be truly safe and the level of radiation below the required levels.[9] As the video below describes, the company claimed that slowly emptying the water into the ocean would be safer than keeping it in storage tanks; this plan halted however, when malfunctions affected the water purification process and re-contaminated thousands of tons of clean water.[10]

Additionally, there is a lack of trust of the Japanese government and TEPCO, as many feel abandoned by the country and do not believe that the decontamination and cleanup operations are being managed correctly. Many believe the storage tanks are poorly constructed, and fear that eventually, the water will leak into the ground anyways.[11]

More recently, the Japanese government came up with a plan to construct a giant ice wall one and a half kilometers around the reactors in order to prevent the flow of mountain run-off water into the complex.[12] As the video below explains, the wall will force groundwater to flow around the reactors, preventing contact with contaminated water, and will be made of frozen soil around the complex, all the way down to the bedrock under the reactors. The goal is to freeze the perimeter around the reactor buildings in order to “prevent long-term water intrusion into a nuclear facility.”[13]

In order to freeze the land around the reactors, pipes with coolant will be installed in the ground, and will eventually freeze the surrounding soil, creating a tight seal that the video argues “could not be obtained with a constructed barrier.”[14]

Construction of this ice wall, costing over 32 billion yen or about 27 billion US dollars, began in March of 2014, and in June of the same year, workers began inserting 1,550 pipes into the ground, and coolant will be fed into them, creating “an impermeable barrier.”[15] The wall would remain in use until 2020, and would use enough electricity to power 13,000 households.[16]

Most recently, TEPCO has faced criticism over its failure to disclose the discovery of elevated levels of radiation in rainwater, which has likely leaked into the sea through a gutter. Although the company admitted to having been aware of the radioactive water since spring of 2014, it was not disclosed until February of this year.[17] Later leaks were also reported and supposedly shut down. This announcement further outraged local commercial fishermen, increasing the levels of distrust felt towards TEPCO[18] and the Japanese government.

 

Cleanup Schedule and Delays

It has been over four years since the reactor accident. A couple of weeks after the meltdown, TEPCO announced their first “roadmap to restoration;” this plan described a few different phases of the restoration process, and was intended to prevent further acidents at the reactors. The first phase of the plan, intended to take place in the three months following the accident, described how workers would continue to flood the nuclear fuel containers with fresh water; they would also inject nitrogen gas into the reactors in order to prevent hydrogen explosions.[19] This phase also stated that TEPCO would install storage containers to hold radioactive water, which could be reused to help cool the reactors. Next, the plan stipulated that the company would spray a plastic emulsion to prevent the dispersal of radioactive dust, and the company would used radio controlled equipment in order to remove contaminated debris.[20]

The second phase of TEPCO’s decontamination plan, meant to take six to nine months, involved achieving a cold shutdown, or a situation where coolant water in the reactors is flowing at less than 100 degrees Celsius.[21]

Later in 2013, the company announced a new roadmap of reconstruction, with a time frame of over 50 years. This plan included removing fuel from spent fuel pools and completing decontamination and debris removal.

Overall, the company plans to have the area decontaminated and inhabitable again by 2017, although other estimates state that the cleanup will take 30-200 years to complete; the chief of the Fukushima nuclear power station has also admitted that “the technology needed to decommission three melted-down reactors does hot exist,” and that the goal of completing the decommissioning by 2051 might be impossible without a giant technological leap.[22]

TEPCO has recently tried using robots to aid in the plant decommissioning process, but this tactic has not been as successful as hoped as the robots can only function amid high levels of radiation for two to three days.[23] As Thom Hartmann reports (below), the company has been forced to begin to look for newer robots that are able to withstand the high levels of radiation within the Fukushima plant.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2911832/shapeshifting-robot-reveals-secrets-of-fukushima-reactor.html (article with video and further information on what the robots in the Fukushima plant saw)

Additionally, the process requires large numbers of bodies able and willing to work in areas with high levels of radiation and contamination. As of October of 2013, more than 50,000 workers had been hired to shut down the plant and decontaminate the town and villages nearby that had been affected by radiation;[24] however, there is a threshold of radiation that each individual can be exposed to, and once that limit is reached, the worker is dismissed.[25] This means that there is a high turnover of workers employed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and the company must be able to continue to find and employ a large number of laborers, if the decontamination process is to be completed in a timely manner.

Additionally, the company has a history of using subcontractors to hire workers; when they arrive at the plant, the employees are unaware that they will be working in areas with high levels of radiation, as they are told they will be clearing debris from the tsunami. As one former employee states in the video below, the company lies about the safety of the job and the workers are tricked into working a job they are unprepared for.

 

What Next?

Although TEPCO and the Japanese government have made strides in the decontamination and restoration processes, at times it seems as if their efforts are for naught. Many have described the process as “impossible,” and despite their best hopes, it seems unlikely that TEPCO will be able to repair the damage caused within their planned timeframe. In addition, many of the families that had been forced to evacuate after the accident are unwilling to move back to their homes, begging the question of is the decontamination process even worth it?

In the past, the government has justified reconstruction efforts by saying that these processes have been taken “out of respect for human life,” an argument that prevents criticism from those actually affected by the disaster.[26] Additionally, distrust of the government has been exacerbated following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, making villagers reluctant to go back to their homes. As one father describes in the video below, he cannot force his family to go back to their former home, and over 117,000 residents are reluctant to return due to the high radiation levels.

Despite TEPCO’s announcement that the affected areas are decontaminated, citizens feel that these claims are all lies and that the government has failed to protect them; [27] however, because the company has not paid those made to leave enough money to resettle elsewhere, the people feel as if they are trapped and are being forced to return to live in a dangerous area.[28] The money the families receive in monthly stipends is ending and temporary housing will be closing, further pressuring the people to return.

Finally, the people forced to flee their homes following the Fukushima accident face psychological trauma, as they and their children are seen as “contaminated” or “affected;”[29] people are unwilling to marry someone who might have been exposed to radiation, parents do not want their children associating with “contaminated” children, and employers are hesitant to give a job to someone who might be sick from radiation. Also, in many cases, the families are unable to bury their loved ones who died in the tsunami, as their bodes are seen as radioactive waste; family members are not allowed to be buried together in these instances, causing further emotional pain.[30]

Although TEPCO and the government have focused on decontamination of the affected areas and reconstruction of homes and infrastructure, it seems as if they also have a role to play in the private lives of the citizens. Despite their best efforts thus far, it appears as if TEPCO and the Japanese government are faced with an impossible task that will take centuries to complete. Perhaps it is time for the country to take a step back and move away from the path dependent model that has characterized historical rebuilding efforts, and instead shift towards helping to reconstruct the psyche of the Japanese people.