Radiation levels at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have dropped significantly since the cataclysmic meltdown 14 years ago on Tuesday. Workers walk around in many areas wearing only surgical masks and regular clothes.
Advertisement
It is a different story for those entering the reactor buildings, including the three damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. They must use maximum protection – full face masks with filters, multilayered gloves and socks, shoe covers, hooded hazmat boiler suit and a waterproof jacket, and a helmet.
As workers remove melted fuel debris from the reactors in a monumental nuclear clean-up effort that could take more than a century, they are facing both huge amounts of psychological stress and dangerous levels of radiation.
Read on for some of the challenges associated with the plant’s clean-up:
Recalcitrant robots
A remote-controlled extendable robot with a tong had several mishaps including equipment failures before returning in November with a tiny piece of melted fuel from inside the damaged No 2 reactor.
Advertisement