It's going to take roughly 30 more years and $76 billion to remove intact nuclear fuel, recover resolidified melted fuel debris, dismantle the reactors, and dispose of contaminated water. Past, present, future It took 237 billion yen ($2.2 billion) and 10 years to construct the four units damaged in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Removing the fuel is expected to take until 2031. So, four unique structures have been or will be built to support cranes needed to safely retrieve undamaged fuel stored on upper floors of the units. Though the four reactors are similar, the meltdowns and explosions damaged them differently. As the reactor cores overheated and melted, radioactive steam and hydrogen escaped from the reactor pressure vessels, accumulated in the upper floors of three of the buildings, and then exploded, blowing out roofs and wall panels and spewing fallout over nearby communities. The power failures disabled pumps that circulate cooling water. The earthquake cut the plant's electrical lines, moving it to emergency generators, which the tsunami swamped 50 minutes later.
The government puts the cost of decommissioning the four reactors at 8 trillion yen ($76 billion) but the Japan Center for Economic Research, a think tank, estimates the bill could be much more. The fuel debris and contaminated water pose especially thorny problems that could threaten that timetable. (TEPCO), envisions roughly 30 more years of work to retrieve undamaged fuel, remove resolidified melted fuel debris, disassemble the reactors, and dispose of contaminated cooling water. The plant owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co. However, at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, "We're still just very near the starting line" for cleaning up after the meltdowns and explosions triggered by the natural disasters, Fukushima prefecture Governor Masao Uchibori said at a 17 February press briefing. Much of northeastern Japan is well along in recovering from the magnitude 9 earthquake and 40-meter tsunami of 11 March 2011.
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