Clean Up Efforts
Since Fukushima Daiichi’s nuclear meltdown in March 2011, there has been minor progress in removing the radioactive substance from exclusion zones and disposal of contaminated water. Efforts to clean up contaminated areas are failing as homes and nearby communities continue to be contaminated by melting snow and rainwater running down the contaminated hills. More issues fall within the ineffective methods used for the processing of contaminated water, debris, soil, and secondary nuclear wastes produced by damaged spent fuel within reactors and primary containment structures. The processing of contaminated water is noted to be the most severe barrier towards cleaning up the aftermath of the Daiichi nuclear disaster as the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) along with its partner firms, have commissioned nearly all of their 6,000 workers to complete the mission almost four years after the disastrous tsunami. This is due to the fact reactors 1, 2, and 3 continue to discharge nearly 1 billion millisieverts of nuclear contamination through radioactive gases, as all uranium cores of the three reactors melted down and through the steel, resulting in ongoing production of enormous amounts of radiation and heat for decades to come.
On any given day, ten tonnes of groundwater stream from neighboring hills and into the basements of the three damaged reactors, where it is mixed with cooled water in order to prevent melted fuel from exploding and causing another tragic accident. This process is followed by the transportation of contaminated water via pipe systems to several storage tanks, where accumulation exceeds over thousands of additional radioactive gallons daily. Currently, the plant has about 500,000 tons of contaminated water stored in more than 1,000 tanks, occupying a vast majority of the Fukushima Daiichi complex. The severity of the situation can be better understood when compared to the partial meltdown that occurred at Three Mile Island in the US during 1979 which only produced about 9,000 tons of contaminated water overall.TEPCO researchers attribute their current challenges for processing contaminated water on technical flaws in the water treatment unit of previous advanced liquid processing systems (ALPS) as well as poorly assembled storage units which have suffered serious leaks as recently as August 2014, when 300 tons of radioactive water leaked into the land and created puddles contaminated enough to give nearby standers the industry’s five year permissible dose in just one hour. In spite of these accidental leaks, TEPCO has already cut down trees to provide sufficient space for 1,000 huge metal storage tanks, each holding more than 360,000 tons of radioactive water, and later installment of more storage tanks to hold another 270,000 tons of wastewater over the next three years. In order to battle their technical flaws experienced in the past, TEPCO has developed 15 specialized teams to replace old tanks with newer welded ones that include water level gauges, while increasing the number of patrols who inspect the tanks for leaks. Another issue at hand remains in the removal of molten cores in the reactor themselves, which contain burned fuel that has begun mixing with concrete, steel, and cladding. TEPCO plans on solving this issue by breaking up the mixture, seal them in steel containers and transport them to a nuclear waste storage site which is not due to begin until after 2020.
In order to prevent radioactive groundwater from leaking from the nuclear reactors, TEPCO has also begun construction on a 1.5 km frozen barrier in order to prevent groundwater from reaching the reactor basements, even though experts like Dale Klein, a former chairman for the US nuclear regulatory commission and current advisor for TEPCO, questions the effectiveness of the project. Nevertheless, TEPCO officials are continuing construction of the wall which was due to be finished by May 2013 but as recent as August 2014, TEPCO officials stated that, "although we injected more than 400 tons of ice and dry ice to freeze radioactive water in a section of the Fukushima ice wall, the temperature did not fall low enough and the strategy did not work." As a result, the company has begun using a filler since mid-September to slow the flow of water in the unfrozen section, so that the section can eventually freeze.
The New ALPS System
TEPCO also plans on installing a newer and more effective version of ALPS water treatment system that can remove more than 60 radioactive elements, except tritium, one of the least dangerous radioactive substances. Head of risk communication at Fukushima Daiichi, Shinichi Kawamura, who has been conducting recent “hot testing” of the new ALPS system believes it will be able to decontaminate more than 500 tons of water per day as she states, “This is a high-performance system because it uses only filters and absorbents to remove the contaminants. The old system depended on chemical agents, which caused problems and created a lot more waste. We have confidence in this machinery.” However, the equipment has recently suffered multiple failures as recent as November 2014, when an ALPS unit shut down due to acid leaking from its pipes. Although the problem was resolved and is currently being investigated, TEPCO has yet to receive public support for the new system since even at a rate of 500 tons of water per day, the overall purification of contaminated water will still take decades to complete. Furthermore, the company must establish a proper disposal of treated water and the radioactive material filtered out by the system before depending on the ocean for their disposal of tritium-laced water.
Support the Cause
Japanese officials are especially concerned about providing compensation for the 160,000 evacuees from exclusion zones who are forbidden to ever return and have already suffered tremendous losses from the devastating earthquake. With such a significant and expensive clean up to pursue, compensation for those who lost their homes will remain a barrier in the overall redevelopment of Fukushima. For those who care to support, please donate to the Red Cross Society who is the leading aid program in disaster management and emergency relief.
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References
Fukushima Daiichi: ANS Committee report. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://fukushima.ans.org/report/cleanup
Fukushima Radiation. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, <http://www.whoi.edu/main/topic/fukushima-radiation>
McCurry, J. (n.d.). Fukushima cleanup progresses, but there is no cause for optimism. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://fukushimaupdate.com/fukushima-11bn-cleanup-progresses-but-there-is-no-cause-for-optimism/
Nuclear Safety Reform Plan Progress Report. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1231860_5130.html
Sample, I. (n.d.). Fukushima two years on: A dirty job with no end in sight. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/03/fukushima-daiichi-tsunami-nuclear-cleanup-japan
Fukushima Radiation. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, <http://www.whoi.edu/main/topic/fukushima-radiation>
McCurry, J. (n.d.). Fukushima cleanup progresses, but there is no cause for optimism. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://fukushimaupdate.com/fukushima-11bn-cleanup-progresses-but-there-is-no-cause-for-optimism/
Nuclear Safety Reform Plan Progress Report. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1231860_5130.html
Sample, I. (n.d.). Fukushima two years on: A dirty job with no end in sight. Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/03/fukushima-daiichi-tsunami-nuclear-cleanup-japan