Fukushima: robot images show massive deposits thought to be melted nuclear fuel

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/23/fukushima-images-show-massive-deposits-thought-to-be-melted-nuclear-fuel
<snip>

Images captured by an underwater robot on Saturday showed massive deposits believed to be melted nuclear fuel covering the floor of a damaged reactor at Japan’s destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.

The robot found large amounts of solidified lava-like rocks and lumps in layers as thick as 1m on the bottom inside a main structure called the pedestal that sits underneath the core inside the primary containment vessel of Fukushima’s Unit 3 reactor, said the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Dying robots and failing hope: Fukushima clean-up falters six years after tsunami
Read more

On Friday, the robot spotted suspected debris of melted fuel for the first time since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused multiple meltdowns and destroyed the plant. The three-day investigation of Unit 3 ended on Saturday.

Locating and analysing the fuel debris and damage in each of the plant’s three wrecked reactors is crucial for decommissioning the plant. The search for melted fuel in the two other reactors has so far been unsuccessful because of damage and extremely high radiation levels.

[MoonRiver]

1. Horrific

If Japan has another earthquake in that area, Chump will be the least of our worries.

[malaise]

2. Yep

Crazy dangerous

[Jimbo101]

3. It gets worse - Fukushima owner decides to dump nuclear waste into the sea

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/fukushima-owner-decides-to-dump-nuclear-waste-into-the-sea/

[malaise]

4. Wow!

Good grief

[FBaggins]

5. How is that worse?

All that's left in the water to be dumped is tritium... which is about as close to harmless as you can get.

[FBaggins]

6. So much for all those "can't find the corium" posts, eh?

Last edited Mon Jul 24, 2017, 11:57 AM - Edit history (1)

It's exactly where predictions said that it would be: Some in the bottom head of the RPV... the rest on the floor of the primary containment.

No hyper-volcanic explosions when the unstoppable still-burning corium hits groundwater.

[hunter]

7. Good to know it's not going anywhere.

It'll just sit there getting less radioactive as the years pass.

Unlike this stuff, which has a half life of FOREVER and is blowing in the wind...

Kingston coal ash spill workers treated as 'expendables,' lawsuit by sick and dying contends

It was the nation’s largest coal ash spill, and it would bring a stampede of government supervisors, environmental advocates, lawyers, journalists, politicians and contractors to Kingston, Tenn.

But not one of them asked why the hundreds of blue-collar laborers cleaning up the mess weren’t wearing even basic dust masks.

Or why their safety gear consisted of nothing more than short-sleeved T-shirts, jeans, work boots and vinyl reflective vests.

Now, nearly a decade later, at least 17 of those workers are dead, dozens more are dying, and the conditions under which they worked are being blamed.

---more---

http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2017/07/21/kingston-coal-ash-spill-workers-treated-expendables-lawsuit-sick-and-dying-contends/451537001/

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127111839

The mess at Fukushima will take a long time to clean up, and it will be a very expensive process, but it's impact is negligible compared to the damage being done by fossil fuels every day, including the darling of the wind and solar energy industry "natural" gas because gas is so good at filling the gaps when the sun's not shining and the wind's not blowing. We pretty much ignore the toxic pollution spewed by the fossil fuel industry, and the accelerating climate catastrophe caused by greenhouse gasses.