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Fukushima: Six months later. What has been done and what remains to be done? (video)
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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On March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of the Japanese city of Sendai and the subsequent tsunami knocked out the neighboring Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Three of the plant's six reactors melted down, causing several explosions and fires. Almost half a year has passed since then. What has been done and what remains to be done?
Every day, between two and a half and three thousand people work at the plant. Many of them are busy cleaning up radioactive waste scattered by explosions. Others are installing and operating radioactive water disinfection systems. Still others are building a protective shell over the reactor of power unit No. 1 to prevent further contamination of the environment. Similar domes will appear over the second and third power units.
They are more stable now than they were six months ago. The reactors shut down after the quake, but their uranium fuel continued to decay and release heat. The cooling systems stopped working, and in the first hours after the accident, the rods became so hot that they melted. According to preliminary data, the meltdown destroyed the bottom of the reactors, releasing hydrogen that eventually ignited and caused a series of explosions.
At the end of March, the temperature inside the reactor of power unit No. 1 exceeded 400 ˚C. By now, it has dropped to about 90 ˚C, and the temperature of other power units fluctuates around 100 ˚C. Coolant is injected into the reactor cores and heated to boiling point. It is likely that by the end of the year the temperature will drop below 100 ˚C, and then active cooling will no longer be required. Only then can we say that the reactors have stabilized.
The biggest danger to workers is radioactive waste. In some places, it is so hot that it can kill anyone who comes near it in minutes, so remote-controlled robots are being used to clean up the mess. In addition, radioactive water continues to leak from the plant. A system is being installed to decontaminate it and return it to the reactors for cooling.
The main source of radiation is cesium-137. It has spread beyond the plant and must be dealt with by local authorities. Some have already begun work.
It is too early to talk about the social consequences of the crisis. New data suggests that a permanent exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant, similar to the Chernobyl one, is needed. The political consequences have already made themselves felt: at the end of August, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned, largely due to criticism of the government's response to the nuclear crisis.
In the short term, workers will continue cooling the reactors and cleaning them up. Then they will begin removing the uranium from the reactors. It is a difficult task. The radioactive fuel is believed to have completely melted and leaked (all or part, God knows) from the stainless steel pressure vessel into the concrete shell beneath the reactor. There, the radiation levels are so high that they will remain deadly for decades. It will likely be years before anyone dares look inside and figure out what happened...