Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 2 deceMber 2019
Fukushima melted fuel removal begins 2021, end state unknown

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and experts say the tanks
Associated Press get in the way of decom-
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's missioning work and they
economy and industry min- need to free up the space
istry proposed a revision to build storage for debris
Monday to its decades- removed and other radio-
long road map to clean up active materials. The tanks
the radioactive mess at the also pose risks if they were
Fukushima nuclear power to spill out their contents in
plant, which was wrecked another major earthquake,
by a massive earthquake tsunami or flood.
and tsunami in 2011. Experts say the controlled
Nearly nine years after the release of the water into
accident, the decommis- the ocean is the only re-
sioning of the plant, where alistic option, which takes
three reactors melted, re- decades. For years, a gov-
mains largely an uncertain- ernment panel has been
ty. The revised road map, discussing methods amid
to be formally approved opposition from fishermen
later this month, lacks de- and residents who fear a
tails on how the complex negative image and po-
should look at the end but tential health impacts.
maintains a 30- to 40-year ___
target to finish. This April 23, 2019, photo, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, RADIOACTIVE WASTE
A look at some of the chal- where decommissioning work is under way. Japan has yet to develop
lenges in decommission- Associated Press a plan to dispose of the
ing the Fukushima Dai-ichi highly radioactive waste
plant: showed that small pieces the melted fuel is doable event of another major that will come out of the
___ of debris can come off and and suggest an approach earthquake could cause reactors. Under the road
MELTED FUEL DEBRIS be lifted out. The milestone like Chernobyl — contain fuel rods inside to melt and map, the government and
By far the toughest chal- step of debris removal is the reactors and wait until release massive radiation. TEPCO will compile a plan
lenge is to remove the 800 scheduled to begin at Unit radioactivity naturally de- TEPCO started removing sometime after the first
tons of nuclear fuel in the 2 by the end of 2021. creases. the fuel rods from the Unit 3 decade of debris removal
three reactors that melt- Earlier, assessment at Unit ___ pool in April 2019 and aims ending in 2031.
ed, fell from the cores and 3 was hampered by high FUEL RODS to get all 566 removed by Managing the waste will
hardened at the bottom of radiation and water levels Together, the three melted March 2021. require new technologies
their primary containment in its primary containment reactors have more than Removal of the rods from to compact it and reduce
vessels. vessel. A robotic survey at 1,500 units of mostly used Units 1 and 2 is to begin in its toxicity. TEPCO and the
In the past two years, plant Unit 1 was unsuccessful due nuclear fuel rods still inside 2023. By 2031, TEPCO also government say they plan
operator Tokyo Electric to extremely high radiation that must be kept cool plans to remove thousands to build a temporary stor-
Power Co., or TEPCO, has levels. in pools of water. They're at two other units that sur- age site for the waste and
made progress in gather- Experts say a 30- to 40-year among the highest risks vived the tsunami to be debris that are removed
ing details mainly from two completion target for the at the plant because the stored in dry casks on the from the reactors. But find-
of the three reactors. In decommissioning is too op- pools are uncovered, and compound. More than ing a site and getting pub-
February, a small telescop- timistic. Some have raised loss of water from structural 6,300 fuel rods were in six lic consent to store the
ic robot sent inside Unit 2 doubts if removing all of damage or sloshing in the reactor cooling pools at waste would be almost
the time of the accident, impossible, raising doubts
Settlement reached in suit over video and only the Unit 4 pool has that the cleanup can be
been emptied.
finished within 40 years.
captioning at Harvard ___ ___
CONTAMINATED WATER
WORKFORCE CONCERNS
By COLLIN BINKLEY of the association, said in a statement. The government and TEP- Securing a workforce for
AP Education Writer Harvard said it's pleased with the "ami- CO have been unable to the decades-long project
BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University cable resolution." Expanding access to get rid of the more than is a challenge, especially
agreed to make its website and online knowledge and making online learn- 1 million tons of radioac- in a country with a rap-
courses friendlier to those who are deaf ing accessible is of "vital importance" tive water that has been idly aging and declining
or hard of hearing as part of a settlement to universities across the nation, the Ivy treated and stored, fear- population. TEPCO has
announced Wednesday in a federal law- League school said in a statement. "Our ing public repercussions. announced plans to hire
suit. The suit, filed in 2015 by the National websites provide a wealth of opportuni- The utility has managed to foreign workers for the de-
Association of the Deaf, alleged that ties for our community members to com- cut the volume of water by commissioning under Ja-
many of Harvard's online videos, courses municate and to share ideas, and we pumping up groundwater pan's new policy allowing
and podcasts did not include captions want these websites to be available to upstream and installing a more unskilled foreign la-
or were inaccurately transcribed. By of- everyone who wishes to access them," costly underground "ice bor, but it put it on hold fol-
fering the content to the public without the university said. After failing to get the wall" around the reactor lowing government instruc-
captions, the suit alleged, Harvard was case dismissed, Harvard adopted a pol- buildings to keep the water tions on careful planning
violating federal civil rights laws protect- icy in April promising to provide captions from running into the area. to address concerns about
ing those with disabilities. for new online videos and other educa- TEPCO says it has space to language and safety. Uni-
"As Harvard learned through this lawsuit, tional programs beginning Dec. 1. Under store only up to 1.37 mil- versities are also struggling
universities and colleges are on notice the settlement, it also must add captions lion tons until the summer to attract students in nucle-
that all aspects of their campus includ- for existing content dating to January of 2022, raising specula- ar science, a formerly elite
ing their websites must be accessible 2019 and must provide live captions for tion that the water may be major that has become
released after the Tokyo unpopular since the Fuku-
to everyone," Howard Rosenblum, CEO events that are streamed online.q
Olympics next year. TEPCO shima accident.q