New images show what is likely to be melted nuclear fuel hanging from inside one of Japan's wrecked Fukushima reactors, a potential milestone in the cleanup of one of the worst atomic disasters in history.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc., Japan's biggest utility, released images on Friday showing a hardened black, grey and orange substance that dripped from the bottom of the No. 3 reactor pressure vessel at Fukushima, which is likely to contain melted fuel, according to Takahiro Kimoto, an official at the company. The company sent a Toshiba-designed robot, which can swim and resembles a submarine, to explore the inside of the reactor for the first time on July 19.
"Never before have we taken such clear pictures of what could be melted fuel," Kimoto said at a press briefing that began at 9 p.m. Friday in Tokyo, noting that it would take time to analyze and confirm whether it is actually fuel. "We believe that the fuel melted and mixed with the metal directly underneath it. And it is highly likely that we have filmed that on Friday."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @06:29PM (1 child)
You omitted the point that Southport and the rest of that region has lots of sunshine and rooftops and could meet its energy needs without a nuke.
(I toured that facility when it was under construction and while I was still naive about nukes.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday July 24 2017, @09:36PM
As renewables were not mature and viable in 1975, I'll give them a pass. We are moving to solar energy in baby steps [bemc.org]. There's also pretty reliable wind here in the form of prevailing sea breezes.
Wish I had. Now they just give tours of their media center building and a mock-up of a control room.