Japanese government declares 'cold shutdown' at Fukushima nuclear plant

2011-12-16 20:38:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- The Japanese government on Friday announced it has successfully stabilized the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a state of 'cold shutdown', more than nine months after the nuclear crisis began.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held a news conference on Friday morning to confirm workers have achieved a cold shutdown at the plant, meaning its coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit).

"The cooling water circulates in a stable manner, and the temperatures at the bottom of the reactors and inside the containment vessel are staying below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit)," Noda said. "Even in the event of an accident, radiation levels at the core of the plant can be maintained low. This was confirmed by experts. [Today's] meeting confirmed that the reactors have achieved a state of cold shutdown. The accident is now under control."

The achievement of a cold shutdown marks an important milestone and finishes the second phase of a plan to completely decommission the plant, which can take up to 30 years. It also leads the way to reduce the evacuation zones, which is currently set at a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) radius around the plant.

Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), welcomed Friday's announcement. "Overall, TEPCO and the Japanese government have made significant progress and have completed the second step of the TEPCO's roadmap by the end of the year as they had planned," he said.

Nonetheless, the nuclear disaster has already released a massive amount of radioactive substances into the environment, making it the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. In addition, major concerns will likely remain for months or years to come as the stricken nuclear reactor buildings will continue to house the melted fuels left inside.

Japan has been facing an ongoing nuclear crisis since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), was severely damaged on March 11 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. The disaster disabled the cooling systems of the plant and radioactive elements leaked into the sea and were later found in water, air and food products in some parts of the country.

At least 15,839 people were killed as a result of the earthquake and tsunami while 3,642 others remain missing. There are still tens of thousands of people who are staying in shelters in 21 prefectures across Japan.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-12-16

Why does it take 30 yrs to decommission it?

It wouldn't, but people get really upset when they throw all the nuclear waste into the ocean.

I'm glad it's Japanese techies and authorities dealing with this. As much as the brickbats of opinion have been flung at Fukushima, imagine how much worse the residual effects would have been if the crisis had happened in a country with less responsible officials, such as China or Thailand.

At least Japanese officials have been somewhat frank in their updates, and they appear to be dealing with the problem openly. No way could that happen in a country like China - which is upwind from Japan (and Pacific/USA). Hate to sound like a cynic, but with dozens of N power plants in China (existing and planned) - it's inevitable that nuclear sh#t will hit the fan sometime b4 2 long.

I'm glad it's Japanese techies and authorities dealing with this. As much as the brickbats of opinion have been flung at Fukushima, imagine how much worse the residual effects would have been if the crisis had happened in a country with less responsible officials, such as China or Thailand.

At least Japanese officials have been somewhat frank in their updates, and they appear to be dealing with the problem openly. No way could that happen in a country like China - which is upwind from Japan (and Pacific/USA). Hate to sound like a cynic, but with dozens of N power plants in China (existing and planned) - it's inevitable that nuclear sh#t will hit the fan sometime b4 2 long.

Yes I read recently that Thailand needed to explore more energy options because they had decided to delay their nuclear energy development plans by a few years.

My blood runs cold at the thought. . .

This is dumbed down on the lamestream media so much. There are signs up in parks in Fukusima city saying dont stay in this park for more than 1 hour per day and thats 60 kms away from ground zero, what you think its like just outside the 20km exclusion zone?

Youtube has videos of foreigners with geiger counters tens of kilos away and they are going off the scale. In Japan private companies operate their nuclear industry and this is what happens when profits are put first. Radiation splits the double helix into a single helix of DNA and on the third copy (each take 4-5 years) it produces cancer so I give it 15 years before the really nasty stuff shows up. Radioactive isotopes have got in the water table and the food chain (from this years crops). The terrible tragedy is they've had all these birth defects and fallout before with Hiroshima but this time is a lot worse (lots more uranium). Btw I heard Japan were giving away ?10000 free plane tickets to boost tourist numbers.

This is a fairy tale. The term 'cold shutdown' only exists for a functioning plant, it could never be applied to one in partial meltdown. Again, they are telling themselves a nice story. They have not learned from the warnings, not learned from the disaster and not learned from the after-effects. And on top of that the news that part of the donations were/are now used to help build up the whaling fleet again, perhaps not quite what the donors had in mind.

Japan: So wonderful in some aspects and so <deleted> in others.

I think it's an Asian thing to seriously downplay any situation. There just isn't the interest, or courage, for journalists to really investigate. They tend to rely on the 'official' statements and we know that in general, those are pretty watered down.

I think the Japanese would do their best, but honesty in these situations requires some journalistic digging.