Japan govt abandons hands-off approach to Fukushima clean-up

MSN ^ | September 1, 2013 5:00 PM ET

[BenLurkin]

Public worries about Fukushima, revived by news of leaks of radiated water at the plant, have threatened to further delay the restart of other off-line reactors - a key element of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recipe for economic revival and a pillar of the turnaround plan Tepco has given its creditor banks.

Japan's nuclear industry, which once provided a third of the nation's power, has nearly ground to a halt since a massive quake and tsunami struck the coastal Fukushima plant in March 2011, causing reactor meltdowns. Tepco has been pumping water over the reactors to keep them cool, storing the radioactive waste water as well as contaminated ground water in ever-growing numbers of above-ground tanks.

"What is clear by now and can hardly be ignored is that Tepco as a private company is overwhelmed by the containment work in Fukushima," said Martin Schulz, a senior research fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute.

"The discussion about nationalizing or breaking up Tepco and at least putting the stabilization of the Fukushima reactors under direct government control is back."

[Paladin2]

Can’t somebody turn Boron into water?

[Ronin]

And about bloody time, if you ask me. They should have pried those reactors out of TEPCO’s incompetent hands months, if not years ago.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Thanks to the incompetence of everyone the Bluefin Tuna industry will probably collapse and all other fisheries here on the west coast. Who is going to pay my bills?

[RockyTx]

did TEPCO even try to remove any fuel from the
problem reactors or fuel pools?

[USS Johnston]

Thanks to the incompetence of everyone the Bluefin Tuna industry will probably collapse and all other fisheries here on the west coast.

Yup. As planned.

Remember how the Gulf oil spill was purposely allowed to gush without containment for days? Sorta killed (if not crippled) the Gulf fishery/shrimp industries. Shouldn't this Admin have immediately offered technical help that would have limited the huge lethal radiation plume in the Pacific? This is total incompetence at best; do-nothing sabotage at worse.

Who is going to pay my bills?

I think you know the answer...and why reason 0bumaCo yawned (and still yawns) over Fukushima as well. Any disaster that helps destroy American business/industry is a WIN-FORWARD for the anti-American Commie-in-Chief.

[Errant]

Ping! ;)

[fortheDeclaration]

Exactly!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We were in NOLA for a week last February. Still plenty of excellent oysters and plenty of shrimp.

[Myrddin]

I made a decent living between 1977 and 1980 working at Marine Electric Company. We took care of all the electronics on the fishing fleets. The seiners, albacore and crab boats were primary customers. Work boats, pleasure boats, large cargo vessels and sport fishers filled in the slack when we weren't preparing for the FCC inspections at the end of each year. I could see the writing on the wall by the Fall of 1979. I moved to a management position at PacBell instead of being a Field Service Engineer at Marine Electric. The fleet moved on. The company was acquired as a subsidiary of Marco Marine. Most of the boats moved to New Zealand.

[USS Johnston]

We were in NOLA for a week last February. Still plenty of excellent oysters and plenty of shrimp.

I'm sure there are "plenty" available there. However, I've noticed that fish stores in the northeast are avoiding carrying Gulf seafood over safety concerns -- whether perception or reality.