Tepco to announce Fukushima reactors have finally been brought under control

THE OPERATOR of the Fukushima nuclear plant is set to announce today that its crippled reactors have finally been stabilised, nine months after a devastating quake and tsunami unleashed the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

But critics, including a journalist who worked undercover at the plant, have rubbished claims by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) that the crisis is over. And Japan’s government admitted this week that dismantling the reactors and its 260-ton lethal cargo of nuclear fuel will take up to 40 years.

Tepco plans to announce at the news conference that radiation releases from the plant are under control and that the temperature of its nuclear fuel is consistently below boiling point – the two conditions set by the beleaguered utility for what it calls “cold shutdown conditions”. Tepco spokesman Masao Yamaguchi called the achievement a milestone.

Much of the fuel in three of Fukushima Daiichi’s six reactors has melted through the base of their containment vessels. Engineers still pump 4,000 tons of water a week on to the fuel to keep it cool, leaving 200,000 tons of heavily contaminated water on site.

The rush to bring the plant under control is storing up complex problems, said Tomohiko Suzuki, who spent a month working at the plant during the summer and has published a book this week about his experiences. “The question is, can they maintain this temperature for years and years,” he said yesterday.

“I believe the problems there are just starting.” Nuclear experts say the state of the molten fuel is still uncertain, with some speculating that the government is preparing to build a giant concrete “nappy” underneath the complex to stop radioactive substances leaking into the ground.

Shaun Burnie, an energy specialist who works with Greenpeace, also said the radioactive water remains a threat and the plant’s cooling systems are vulnerable to leakages and a loss of power. “The crisis at Fukushima-daiichi is very far from normal.”

Suzuki paints an appalling picture of managerial callousness at the plant, claiming that after the first explosion there on March 12th, Tepco sent out a message to labour dispatch companies saying: “Send us people who don’t mind dying.” In the first few days of panic, workers were not issued radiation-measuring equipment and were not properly logged in, he said. “There’s no way to track down the people who were at the site in March and April.”

Workers are under pressure to extend their time working in dangerously radioactive conditions, and have learned to cheat dosimeters by putting them back to front and wearing them in their socks, he added. “Tepco does not instruct us to take these measures, but it sets tasks that force people to cheat with these dosimeters. Everyone understands this.”

Tepco has refused to comment on Suzuki’s claims. Suzuki was sacked from the plant in August in part, he claims, because he was the only worker who stayed awake taking notes during Tepco briefings.