Nuclear Power

Shortly after the March 2011 tsunami, the
Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan turned into an
MCA (“maximum credible accident”), an event that
was largely due to the fact that the emergency
electricity generators (which were flooded) had
been erected in the wrong place. At the time many
rumors made the rounds indicating that Japan's
government as well as plant operator TEPCO were
deliberately downplaying the severity of the
situation. It seems now that they have indeed not
been as forthright about the dangers than they
should have been. The problem with nuclear
material is that it just keeps radiating and
depending on what material exactly is involved, its
so-called half-life (the point in time when half of
its radiation is spent) can be quite long.
Recently it has turned out that the Fukushima
accident is in fact still ongoing. Initially the plant
was flooded with water in order to cool the
reactors down and thereby slow down the chain
reaction process so as to avert an even bigger
disaster. Unfortunately that meant that the water
used for the purpose became radio-active as well.
Now the contaminated water is becoming a huge
problem.
According to the WSJ:
“Japan's nuclear watchdog will play a more direct
role in the cleanup at the stricken Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear-power plant after doubts were
raised about the ability of the plant's operator to
cope with continuing problems. The Nuclear
Regulation Authority, created in September to give
teeth to the country's nuclear oversight, said
Monday it would for the first time be involved in
measuring radiation levels at the site of the world's
second-worst nuclear-plant disaster. This comes
after a number of revelations in recent weeks of
sudden leaps in radiation levels, as well as signs
that some contaminated water may be reaching
the ocean waters that border the plant.
[…]
NRA officials said highly contaminated water may
be leaking into the soil from a number of trenches,
allowing...