Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Update 2024: The “Roadmap Is Utterly Inconceivable”

By Richard Wilcox, Ph.D.

“Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure that has no relation to reality” – Nikola Tesla

Greetings to readers of the indispensable website Activist Post which from 2011 to 2017 posted my articles along with the legendary Jeff Rense at the same time on the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (in Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan just north of Tokyo) at power station No. 1 (Dai Ichi); as opposed to the nearby No. 2 station, which was not damaged after the 9.3 magnitude earthquake (or an atom bomb at the bottom of the ocean as some claim, but without evidence that I know of) on March 11, 2011. Certainly the date fits into the occult numerology of the Cabala and Illuminati mythology, or maybe stuff just happens.

I apologize for my seven-year hiatus on this topic,but at the time I was so busy with my personal life and had already written over fifty articles posted at many websites, mainly Activist Post (a special thanks to editor Michael Edwards for his unending support) and Rense.com. You can find my articles archived HERE.

At the time I discontinued my articles in 2017 the big question was would the Japanese government be able to invent a robot that could withstand the powerful radiation emanating from the corium (melted nuclear radiation fuel rods) that had melted through the bottoms of reactors no. 1, 2 and 3. Reactor no. 4 was damaged but did not melt down although came close to catastrophe (see the excellent documentary film by Italian journalist Pio d’Emilia called Fukushima A Nuclear Story from 2015 (2). The meltdown of these reactors resulted in the corium melting a short distance vertically downward out of the containers and then spreading out horizontally in random puddles surrounding the area. As I recall, at the time the government had set a time line to begin to remove the corium by digging it out with robots by 2021, but then Covid came along and the robots got sick and died from the poisonous Covid injections of myocarditis and were not able to be of any help (joke); thus the corium still just sits there gurgling.

Of course, what really happened is that the government at one point, several years ago, admitted that the technology to remove the corium would have to be invented but it appears they have had no luck thus far to invent such a device; probably due to the thickness of the lead needed to protect such a robot, but ironically making it too heavy and clumsy to carry out the difficult task?

Also during this time the cost of cleaning up the mess has sky rocketed into the tens of billions of dollars that will be needed now and into the future, and TEPCO the company that manages the site has released tons of contaminated water from the site, which has at the very least trace elements of the radioactive tritium in it, an element that cannot be filtered out of the water that has been used to cool the site or water that was otherwise contaminated.

I suggest readers interested in this topic visit the amazing website that is in both the Japanese and English languages, the Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center located out of Japan. It is a treasure trove of reports having published over 600 issues during the many years of its existence. Go to: https://cnic.jp/english/ and then type in the search engine the word “Fukushima” and an entire archive will appear in chronological order. You can scroll back in time and also learn about the millions of tons of water the government decided to dump into the Pacific Ocean, contaminated at the very least with tritium and perhaps as some speculate even other much more dangerous substances such as cesium and strontium. It is easily possible that due to malfunctions in equipment not all radioactive substances were (and still are) filtered out.

Tony Boys, my colleague who co-authored two articles with me that were published in an anthology book that many great anti-nuke authors contributed to has been translating CNIC’s articles from Japanese to English for many years and the world owes him a debt of gratitude for that service (The book is located here: “Fukushima: Dispossession or Denuclearization”).

Below I will briefly summarize some of the key points that I have gleaned from looking at past issues over about the last year to help give readers a cursory update. I believe that about 20 of Japan’s original 50 reactors have been restarted due to the high cost of maintaining idle reactors and in order to provide electricity. In 2016 there was another huge earthquake in Japan that was of great concern due to its proximity to operating or idle reactors, but luckily that time Japan escaped unscathed.

Today the key issue at Fukushima is that the corium has NOT been removed. Thus, the:

“Retrieval of the fuel debris [“corium” also known as radioactive molten fuel debris] is postponed for one year from early 2021. TEPCO announced that equipment being made in the UK is not completed yet because of COVID-19. First, a small amount will be retrieved and its properties will be ascertained. During the meltdown, the molten fuel reacted with the concrete below it, and corium as hard as rock is also present. The equipment to retrieve this has yet to be designed and produced, so an investigation to determine what kinds of debris and corium are present is necessary. Such an investigation, however, is impossible. The intense radiation creates various obstacles, such as preventing wireless transmission, damaging integrated circuitry and degrading lenses, making it impossible to view what’s inside. Thus this equipment is still under development. That it would be possible to retrieve the fuel debris within the time frame of the current Roadmap is utterly inconceivable.” [emphasis added] (3)

Since the time of writing the above report, it is obvious that the postponement of removal of corium has gone on for several more years after the planned removal date. Maybe dinosaurs may once again roam the earth by the time of removal. Furthermore, it seems that all hope seems to be on the verge of being abandoned according to this title and article:

Thirteen and a half years have passed since the unprecedented catastrophe of the Fukushima nuclear accident. While reflecting on the deep sadness experienced by people who have lost their hometown and become displaced persons, I read the Japanese translation, released May 2024, of Visit to Japan – Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary (2023). In the report, Ms. Damary explains the nine basic rights* listed in “V”. Recommendations to address human rights challenges affecting internally displaced persons from the Fukushima disaster,” and at the end provides recommendations for each of them. The content is extremely relevant in light of that disaster. (4)

Indeed, as recently as September 24, 2024 CNIC reported that:

The estimated decommissioning cost of eight trillion yen is the cost up to the point where the debris is removed. When the cost for the disposal of the huge amount of radioactive waste that will be generated is included, it is certain that the cost will be much higher. Since fiscal 2017, TEPCO has set aside an average of 300 billion yen per year as a reserve fund for decommissioning to the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation to cover the eight trillion yen cost of decommissioning. By simple calculation, it will take 27 years to accumulate the necessary eight trillion yen. If the decommissioning is to be completed in 2051, the accumulation of funds for waste disposal also need to be considered. But does TEPCO have enough stamina left to do so? (5).

Finally, there is the issue of contaminated water that is being steadily released into Pacific Ocean. The following articles address this important point that may well indeed affect the already sorry state of health of the world’s oceans: In February of 2023 a group of international NGOs, concerned citizens and marine scientists cited a number of serious deficiencies in the Japanese governments plan to dump the millions of tons of tritium tainted water (and possibly other types of much stronger radiation) into the ocean:

Deficiencies in the understanding and scientific methodology regarding the radioactive materials in the tanks; Questions remain as to whether ALPS is treating the various radioactive materials other than tritium in accordance with its supposed performance; Deficiencies in ecosystem impact analysis; Lack of full consideration for alternative proposal. (6)

For example, some commonsense proposals were made such as mixing the water with concrete and using it at the site for various rebuilding purposes, thus it would be safely locked into the concrete until tritium’s relatively short life span would be neutralized, but the following options were ignored.

Continuing tank storage is one alternative method that has been proposed. Another method is to make concrete with the treated water. There should also be biological decontamination techniques available, but consideration of these various alternative proposals is non-existent.We raised these issues with the IAEA, and they responded that they did not need to face up to these issues now. We were very disappointed. This stance by the IAEA is a serious problem. We suspect that the IAEA has not followed a proper procedure for the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear reactors. (6)

Then, on August 23rd of 2023 CNIC offered a strongly worded condemnation of the tainted water release and also suggested a new approach to the issue, so as to not only criticize but to attempt to solve the problem in a more positive and environmentally sane way.

The decision to release the contaminated water flies in the face of the written agreement with fishermen’s groups not to proceed with the release without their agreement and disregards the concerns of farmers and tourism businesses. The Chinese government has tightened its customs controls to measure the level of contamination of fishery products, and the Hong Kong government has said that it will ban imports of fishery products from 10 prefectures, including Tokyo, in response to the release. This decision to commence the release was made while real damage is already being done. Neither has the government responded to the doubts of experts commissioned by the Pacific Islands Forum….The government’s decision violates the London Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter. It violates the London Convention because it intentionally dumps pollutant material that is presently stored in tanks, even though there are other ways to deal with it that avoid releasing it into the ocean. It also violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 194). The article requires that “every State shall use the best practicable means available to it to prevent, abate and control pollution of the marine environment from all sources.” Ocean discharges, which carry risks and cause “actual harm,” (not just bad rumors) are hardly the best approach. (7)

Furthermore, CNIC suggested that:

This brief examines the amount of radioactive material that has been leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station ever since the meltdowns occurred more than 12 years ago. It is huge. Both TEPCO and the government are undoubtedly aware of this reality. Despite this, they are now attempting to release even the radioactive materials they have been able to manage in tanks to the outside world. While attention focuses on this release, this brief attempts to highlight the even larger problems of Fukushima Daiichi and the irresponsible way the authorities are dealing with them. *(See PDF file at the URL posted in References which has a very lengthy and detailed explanation replete with photographs and maps to explain the CNIC proposal). (8)

In addition, about a year or so ago it was widely reported that a large number of dead fish had washed up on a Hokkaido beach in Japan. Speculation that it could have been caused by the release of the radioactive water was immediately denied by the government and ignored by the media without any evidence to prove the truth of the matter either way (it is possible it was a natural occurrence or happened due to other causes, but I have never heard a plausible explanation).

Despite these recent efforts, as is typical with government bureaucrats and huge corporations like TEPCO, all the efforts of activists, scientists and concerned citizens have fallen on deaf ears. As usual, the Japanese government — not unlike many other governments in the world as this seems to be the eternal nature of powerful institutions — churns along according to their own momentum based on a desperate situation, not to mention their own ignorance, laziness, stupidity and greed.

Richard Wilcox PhD is a teacher living in Japan for over 34 years.

References

1. d’Emilia, P. (2015) DVD: Fukushima A Nuclear Story (2015) Retrieved from: http://www.nuclearstory.com
2. Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center https://cnic.jp/english/
3. Ban Hideyuki, (February 11, 2021). “Fukushima Daiichi: Contaminated water should not be dumped in the ocean and radioactive debris should not be removed without debate on the end state.” Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=5276
4. Matsukubo, Hajime. (October 7, 2024) Fukushima Now (27) Part 1, Troubles Continue – But Will They Manage to Complete the Decommissioning? Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=7747
5. CNIC, (September 11, 2024) CNIC Statement: Is there any point in the fuel debris sample collection at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2? Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=7722
6. Ban, Hideyuki, (February 7, 2023). Voices from Around the Pacific Rim Oppose Oceanic Release of Fukushima Daiichi Contaminated Water. Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=6476
7. CNIC (August 23, 2023). CNIC Statement: We strongly protest the government’s decision to begin the release of contaminated water into the ocean. Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=6784
8. CNIC (August 23, 2023). CNIC Brief: A new argument for considering the issue of contaminated ALPS water releases from Fukushima Daiichi [No. 1 reactor]. Retrieved from: https://cnic.jp/english/?p=6787