Japanese PM: Fukushima
nuclear power plant has reached cold shutdown
Fukushima Power Plant
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
16 Dec 2011
The Japanese government has declared reactors at the
tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant to be in a state of
"cold shutdown", meaning that nine months after the worst
nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the plant has now been
stabilised.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant, 150 miles northeast of Tokyo,
waswrecked
on March 11 by a huge earthquake and a towering tsunami which
knocked out its cooling systems, triggering meltdowns,
radiation leaks and mass evacuations.
Japan's
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has drawn a line under the
crisis phase of the emergency at the plant and highlighted
the next challenges: post-disaster clean-up and the safe
dismantling of the plant, something experts say could take
up to 40 years.
"The nuclear reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown
and therefore we can now confirm that we have come to the
end of the accident phase of the actual reactors.
"I now officially declare the completion of phase two on our
road map to end the nuclear crisis," Mr Noda told a
government nuclear emergency response meeting broadcast live
nationwide.
"We are now moving from trying to stabilise the nuclear
reactors to decommissioning them. The Japanese government
promises to clarify the road map from here and do our
utmost, while ensuring we operate the nuclear reactors as
safely as possible, to decommission them," he added.
A cold shutdown is when water used to cool nuclear fuel rods
remains below boiling point, preventing the fuel from
reheating. One of the main aims of the plant's operator,
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), had been to bring the reactors
to cold shutdown by the year's end.
After months of effort, the water temperature in all three
of the affected reactors fell below boiling point in
September, but Tepco has been cautious about declaring a
cold shutdown, saying it had to see if temperatures and the
amount of radiation emitted from the plant remained stable.
"This is a challenge to not only our nation but also the
whole of humanity. I believe there will come a day when
Fukushima will be remembered as the place where our future
was founded by the bravery, the commitment and the
resourcefulness of all our people," said Noda.
The
declaration of a cold shutdown could have repercussions well
beyond the plant. It is a government pre-condition for
allowing about 80,000 residents evacuated from within a 12
mile radius of the plant to go home.
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