Nuclear Leaks 38: Fukushima Unit 2's Melted Fuel

Photos obtained from investigation inside Unit 2 are available at https://t.co/Z3qeAYv4ca pic.twitter.com/ytdLvSvniT

— TEPCO (@TEPCO_English) January 19, 2018

I haven't updated my nuclear posts for awhile, mainly because the topic is so depressing. The nuclear energy nightmare is the flip side of the carbon fuel conundrum. The latter skews global politics and the world economy and inspires endless outrages, pipeline conflicts, wars, and refugee crises. The former is not a great green alternative.

Also, the Fukushima disaster reminds me in more ways than one of my own mortality, not least that I miss eating Pacific fish, and the decommissioning of Fukushima will continue long after all of us are dead.

However, on 19 January 2018, TEPCO posted photos of melted fuel from a robot probe of the inside of Fukushima Daiichi Reactor Unit 2, here. CBC:

"TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto said ... 'There is so much that we still haven't seen ... . But we were able to obtain important information that we need in order to determine the right method for removing the melted fuel debris.' ... Melted fuel has previously only been documented inside Unit 3, where an underwater probe captured images of large amounts of melted fuel debris that looked like molten lava mixed with broken parts of equipment and structures on the concrete floor.

During Friday's investigation, the device — developed by Toshiba Corp. and the International Research Institute for Decommissioning, a government-funded organization of nuclear companies — found deposits in the shape of pebbles, clay and other forms, Kimoto said."

All photos below the jump are from TEPCO and were taken on 19 January 2018.

The inability to see inside the reactors due to unprecedented levels of radiation, too high for human investigators and nearly impossible for robot probes, has created an information vacuum. The situation reveals how, in the communications age, any enforced absence of knowledge demands data, real or otherwise.

Conspiracists theorize that the 2011 Japanese earthquake and nuclear disaster were: (a) not a natural occurrence but sparked by the nefarious detonation of an atomic bomb (by the Israelis) on the seabed and (b) the ensuing nuclear accident and meltdowns never happened and were a psyop. This is as idiotic as the government-sponsored 2017 deception that it is now safe to move back to the vicinity of the reactors and live there.

In the Millennial culture of self-deceit, people prefer to believe (or disbelieve) dishonest authorities because their beliefs stabilize societies already in flux. This anti-reality mindset is best indicated by the fact that some venues for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be built in the city of Fukushima.

See all my posts on Nuclear topics.