Tuesday, August 30, 2016

"Japan’s $320 Million Gamble at Fukushima: An Underground Ice Wall"

NYT:
the ice wall is intended to seal off the reactor buildings within a vast, rectangular-shaped barrier of man-made permafrost. If it becomes successfully operational as soon as this autumn, the frozen soil will act as a dam to block new groundwater from entering the buildings. It will also help stop leaks of radioactive water into the nearby Pacific Ocean, which have decreased significantly since the calamity but may be continuing.

However, the ice wall has also been widely criticized as an expensive and overly complex solution that may not even work.

...

Since the accident, five robots sent into the reactor buildings have failed to return