Ten years ago, a tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The tsunami crashed into the plant, causing three of the reactors to melt. As the reactors perished, the plant was burned to the ground.
Heroes put their lives on the line to save plant workers a decade ago. Despite this, the Fukushima power plant’s destruction was one of the worst nuclear disasters of all-time.
People are now able to return to the plant because of the tremendous cleanup effort by countless workers. Radiation has dropped, so people can now wear regular clothes and surgical masks instead of hazard suits. However, there are still many dangerous areas of the plant that are drawing concerns from the public and area leadership.
Deep Inside the Fukushima Power Plant
The Fukushima nuclear power plant is massive in stature. The cleanup effort has been occurring for ten years, and it’s not done yet in a lot of areas of the plant. There is no timeline when the plant will be finished or the state of the land where the power plant sits.
Three of the reactors melted when the tsunami hit the plant. There were also hydrogen explosions which emitted a lot of radiation. There are still 900 tons of melted nuclear fuel inside the three reactors that were melted down.
The best-case scenario for when these reactors will be finished is 30 to 40 years. There are nuclear experts on the outside claiming that this timeline is overly optimistic. It could be 50 years before the area is thoroughly cleaned from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the 56-foot-high tsunami.
Reactor Cleanup
Currently, cleanup crews cannot get into the area of the melted reactors because of dangerous radiation levels. Additionally, there are a lot of rubble pieces that need to be removed to access the reactors. Reactors will not be able to be accessed for five more years.
There are fears of another tsunami in the future. This is highly likely, considering that the cleanup will take nearly five decades. If another tsunami struck the plant, it could cause the reactors to overheat again and meltdown even more than they are today.
Drone cameras have accessed all this information. Although, the cameras cannot access everything in the location of the melted reactors. Plant chief Akira Ono told the press that the lack of accessibility is causing a lot of unknowns. The workers will stay on the side of caution before starting the reactor clear-out in the future.
Contaminated Water
There is fear from the public that seeping water is contaminated the land around the plant. Since the tsunami, radioactive water has been running from the plant. This has destroyed more parts of the plant.
The scarier part of the running water is that it’s mixing with groundwater. The water is being cleaned as it leaves the plant, thanks to security measures. Safety workers also blocked the main leak that led to the ocean.
Nevertheless, there is still contaminated water going into the ocean, mixing with fish that are eaten by the public. This could cause damage to the population in the future, especially if another tsunami strikes.
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