This is the last of a ten part program series covering the most recent and complex status of the ecological and medical consequences of the Fukushima catastrophe – as well as the very important details of engineering in nuclear power technology. The information was presented at the two day Fukushima Symposium at the New York Academy of Medicine in March 2013. The overwhelming conclusion was that the Fukushima accident is by no means over and another earthquake or tsunami might cause the reactor fuel to ignite.
I’m ending the series with a voice from Japan. I first heard from Ambassador Akio Matsumura in 2011 when he launched his ongoing attempt to engage international organizations and the governments of countries most affected to oversee, or even take over the work now done by the owner TEPCO. As a private corporation in charge of the cleanup TEPCO is clearly overwhelmed by the task and also has no credentials for handling it responsibly. They mismanaged Fukushima Daiichi while it was running. TEPCO says it will take 40 years to secure the site. The IAEA, at an April 2013 visit, said that estimate was too low and the damaged infrastructure would not last that long.
To illuminate the urgency of the task to get the cleanup under control, Matsumura points to reactor number 4. Remember the images of that building with the roof torn off, and fires burning inside? The entire structure is leaning, the damaged frame is missing large parts of the outer walls. Inside of what remains of Unit 4, 100 feet above ground, hangs the 1,670 ton fuel pool filled with irradiated fuel rods. You heard from fuel pool expert Bob Alvarez in this series. He says that if an earthquake causes the pool to crack and drain there could be a radiological fire that might re-ignite the other parts of Fukushima Daiichi.
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