Antinuclear

And authorities still don’t how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in tanks around the site.

Humans shouldn’t even be near these reactors. They are the most dangerous part of the plant.

Tepco has developed robots that have been sent in to search for radioactive fuel. But so far, none have been successful. They have all “died”. “It is extremely difficult to access the inside of the nuclear plant,” Naohiro Masuda, Tepco’s head of decommissioning said in an interview. “The biggest obstacle is the radiation.”

Mr Masada said the robots were built to swim under water and search for the melted fuel rods.But as soon as they get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless, causing long delays, Mr Masuda said.

Each robot has to be custom-built for each building. “It takes two years to develop a single-function robot,” Mr Masuda said.

Workers on the site are regularly working outside in the exclusion zone to remove contaminated debris, but they can’t keep up with the mounds of mess they’re cleaning up. They are routinely being scanned for radiation exposure, as more reports emerge of locals being at greater risk of cancer and thyroid disorders……….

More than 8,000 workers are at the plant at any one time. They are constantly removing debris, building storage tanks, laying piping and preparing to dismantle parts of the plant. Much of the work involves pumping water into the wrecked and highly radiated reactors to cool them down.

The radiated water is then pumped out of the plant and stored in tanks around the site.  Tepco has completed around 10 per cent of the work to clear the site up — the decommissioning process could take 30 to 40 years.

A subterranean “ice wall” is also under construction. Dubbed the world’s biggest ice wall, it will stop groundwater from becoming contaminated, using coolants to create a 30-metre deep wall of ice.http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/inside-the-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-five-years-after-the-disaster-was-triggered-by-an-earthquake-and-tsunami/news-story/f80b140e5505709a55ab6ee6cc5a9228