TOKYO, April 14, 2021—That the inept Yoshihide Suga government April 13 formerly decided to discharge contaminated Fukushima nuclear power water into the sea approximately from 2023 was largely anticipated as storage capacity was nearing the limit. The decision amounts to a destiny for a country punctuated by the collapse of its technology despite the fact there was more than 10 years for advancing research and development to remove nuclear fuels from the leaky reactors. And it is ironic proof that the CEO of Toshiba Corp., the company that had built the Fukushima reactors, is poised to be ousted soon.
Scientists estimate that the contaminated water release would have to be continued for at least 30 years – most likely much longer and until the nuclear fuels are extracted from the reactors that melted down. The government claims that it would dilute the water to levels safe enough so as not to pollute sea water and marine fauna and flora BUT the chief cabinet secretary, Mr. Kato, failed to use the words ‘science’ or ‘scientific’ in emphasizing that the discharge of tritium, a deadly carcinogenic, would be safely harnessed.
That the Japanese government has been giving a cold bath to scientific R&D to combat the Fukushima meltdown is underscored in part by the fact that it turned its head to request from Kinki University of Osaka for its research to decontaminate tritium from the Fukushima reactors.
Since the 2011 earthquake and meltdown accident, Toshiba, the architect of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors and known as the pioneer of the world’s first robots as far back as 150 years ago, has tried numerous technologies to extract the red-hot and highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods. But all Japanese technologies have failed and engineers now are trying to pull out the rods with other countries’ technologies. This is another ironic development. Until slightly more than 10 years ago, Japan was revered as the bastion of robots, such as factory assembly line industrial robots.
Not anymore. At student robot contests held every year in Japan, something called Robocon, Japanese student teams are outsmarted by Asian teams in recent years. Little wonder why Toshiba and other big companies cannot develop technology to control the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water.
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Insight Into the Future