Nuke Experts: Fukushima plant must be entombed like Chernobyl — Reactors will remain a threat to world “for the rest of time” — “Humanly impossible” to clean up due to shockingly high radiation levels
ENENews.com
FEBRUARY 14TH, 2017
EnviroNews World News, Feb 6, 2017 (emphasis added): The astronomical readings bring major concerns to a cleanup operation already spiraling out of control — flying blindly into territory previously uncharted in the history of nuclear power…. To top it off, 530 sieverts per hour might not be the worst cleanup workers have to worry about. TEPCO also stated that surface-level radiation readings from parts inside the plant’s pressure vessels can reach “several thousand sieverts per hour,” compounding what are already seemingly unsurmountable tasks in the decommissioning process. Esteemed nuclear expert, engineer, and former reactor operator Arnie Gundersen told EnviroNews World News in an email that the position of Fairewinds, his educational non-profit, is that radiation levels are presently way to high to remove the melted fuel, and that the reactors should be entombed, like was done with Chernobyl’s sarcophagus, for at least a century before attempting dismantlement. “[These readings do] make dismantling the facility almost impossible for 100 or more years, as the exposure to workers would be too significant,” Gundersen said.
Snopes, Feb 7, 2017: In a statement they sent to us, Tepco [said] “The level of radiation discovered was higher than expected… Extra precautions have been taken to prevent leaks of radiation during the investigation.”… What that means, engineer and San Diego State business professor Dr. Murray Jennex told us, is that clean-up just became much more difficult than expected… “The structures are holding but inside where the fuel melted, it went all over the place…” Jennex, an expert on nuclear containment… surmised that Tepco would ultimately be forced to build a concrete sarcophagus around the unit like the one that encapsulates reactor no. 4 at Chernobyl. He added that they “may have to let nature take its course for a while.”
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