Fukushima's ground zero: No place for man or robot

Reuters.com ^ | 11 March 2016 | Aaron Sheldrick and Minami Funakoshi

[Rockitz]

This is slowly becoming the worst nuclear accident of all time.

[Talisker]

They should nuke the place and vaporize the problem.

[Farmer Dean]

How “hot” is the melted core.At Chernobyl the so-called elephant’s foot of solidified core was emitting 10,000 R/hr.

[FreedomPoster]

Yeeeaaaaahhh.

No.

[Vaquero]

We should have taken this fiasco over at the onset. The Japanese are a proud people who reject outside help.(I’m sure Obozo bowed and scraped to them and let them to their own devices) But they are damaging a good chunk of the friggin world.....it could get to affect much more than Japan.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow...

* "...the technology needed to establish the location of the melted fuel rods in the other three reactors at the plant has not been developed." [unbelievable that this wasn't anticipated!]

* "...as soon as [the robots] get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless" [does radiation destroy insulation on the wires? or embrittle the metal conductor?]

* "Each robot has to be custom-built for each building. 'It takes two years to develop a single-function robot'" [and then they are destroyed quickly by radiation -- I can't believe the world's nuclear operators didn't solve this problem DECADES ago and anticipate such a disaster]

[Zeppo]

“It’s Not A Fit Night Out For Man or Robot”

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This is slowly becoming the worst nuclear accident of all time.

Not a single person has died from the Fukushima reactor's encounter with a tidal wave. If this is "the worst nuclear accident of all time" (and it isn't, that honor goes to Chernobyl), then it's further proof that nuclear fission power plants definitely are the way to go.

[SteveH]

But anything described as slowly becoming the worst nuclear accident of all time sells more newspaper ads, so...

whether it is or is not, it is.

(another zen moment courtesy of your friendly journalist reality masters, lol)

[zaxtres]

Although 6 died performing containment efforts.

[laplata]

But Chernobyl didn’t affect the ocean.

[Rockitz]

Hence, my use of the term “slowly.” With ready access to the Pacific Ocean, the entire Pacific rim will eventually be exposed to the continuously spewing poison emanating from Fukushima.

[DesertRhino]

“And authorities still don’t know how to dispose of highly radioactive water stored in an ever mounting number of tanks around the site”

Put it on a ship, sail around remote ocean centers, slowly release and disperse to dilute. Sink ship in a deep trench.

[null and void]

* "...as soon as [the robots] get close to the reactors, the radiation destroys their wiring and renders them useless" [does radiation destroy insulation on the wires? or embrittle the metal conductor?]

When last I looked, "Rad-Hard" chips could withstand 10⁷ rads.

Note that at post #3, Farmer Dean posted: "How “hot” is the melted core? At Chernobyl the so-called elephant’s foot of solidified core was emitting 10,000 R/hr."

The best electronics would last 100 hours, 4 days or so tops.

[Larry Lucido]

The six robots received super powers and have developed intelligence. We’ll hear from them again.

[WKUHilltopper]

Who would ever had thought that building a nuke plant on an earthquake fault would have been a problem?

[DesertRhino]

“We should have taken this fiasco over at the onset.”

So just send in the FBI and tell Japan we are taking over the case? And taking over of course, means we get to pay.

[Rockitz]

Sounds like the beginning of a great sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? ;o)

[867V309]

Not a single person has died from the Fukushima reactor's encounter with a tidal wave. If this is "the worst nuclear accident of all time" (and it isn't, that honor goes to Chernobyl)...

And the official death toll of Chernobyl is something like 31.

What flavor is your Kool Aide?

[null and void]

If I owned Dial Soap (the makers of Twenty Mule Team Borax) I'd offer TEPCO a lot of borax for Fukashima.

Boron sops up neutrons and disrupts chain reactions.

"Twenty Mule Team Borax, if it can help clean up a nuclear accident, think of what it can do for your laundry!"