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Page added on July 9, 2011
Japan says Fukushima clean-up to take 20 years
Japan’s Prime Minister has announced that it will take up to 20 years to clean up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It’s the first time the government has attempted to indicate how long the operation may take. Emergency measures are already underway to shut down the reactors to prevent further radiation leaks. The Fukushima plant was ruined when it was hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March. Thousands of people have left the area around the facility over safety fears.
4 Comments on "Japan says Fukushima clean-up to take 20 years"
DC on Sun, 10th Jul 2011 3:39 am
20 years? Try 20,000 years…or longer. The area will never be truely ‘clean’ ever again. Nor will a lot of other areas in and far beyond Japans shores that will and are being affected as well. 20 years and IF there lucky, they may be able to pretty up the area enough that people will sort of forget what happened there, but that will superfical at best.
SilentRunning on Sun, 10th Jul 2011 4:24 am
20-30 years sounds about right. After 20 years the surround area will be quite a bit improved because the most highly radioactive isotopes will have decayed to about 1/2 their current level – and even more so because they will have been diffused into larger and large volumes of earth and water.
The facility itself will probably be a “no-man’s” land for 1000 years – unless they can cut up and cart away the melted core and reprocess the thing. Such activities will be harder and harder to do in the energy constrained world of the future.
Kenz300 on Sun, 10th Jul 2011 2:12 pm
25 years after the Chernobyl disaster the government is trying to raise a billion dollars for a new containment structure. The exclusion zone around the plant is still contaminated. The disaster at Fukishima continues today with no end in sight. The government and taxpayers of Japan will be paying for this disaster FOREVER.
Kathy on Sun, 10th Jul 2011 2:23 pm
Absolutely, forever.