FIVE YEARS AFTER: Tougher work awaits TEPCO at Fukushima after water issue ends

[yuiyoshida]

OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture--The ever-increasing rows of tanks storing radioactive water continue to eat up the precious available land at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Five years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, triggered the triple meltdown at the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is still struggling to bring the contaminated water problem under control.

And the utility has yet to fully tackle the more difficult and time-consuming task of actually decommissioning the ruined nuclear plant.

Each day, TEPCO circulates 300 tons of water inside the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors to cool down the melted nuclear fuel within.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201603110047