It has four giant metal legs that taper down, giving the structure a sort of animalistic look.
![fukufhima reactor meltdown fukufhima reactor meltdown](https://www.fukushimawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/03/fukushima.jpg)
Temperatures inside the reactors skyrocketed to as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.Īt the far end of the room, there's an enormous orange platform known as a fuel-handling machine. Two 50-foot-high waves barreled straight at Fukushima Daiichi, washing over coastal seawalls and disabling the diesel generators powering the plant's seawater cooling systems. All reported no significant damage.Īn hour later, the tsunami reached shore. Eleven reactors at four nuclear power plants throughout the region were operating at the time. (Units 4, 5 and 6 at Daiichi weren't operating at the time.) The temblor shook so violently it shifted the Earth's axis by nearly 4 inches and moved the coast of Japan by 8 feet. Unit 3 was one of three reactors crippled on March 11, 2011, after a 9.0 earthquake struck 80 miles off the coast of Japan. Yes, that Fukushima Daiichi, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. There's a good reason for all that protection - I'm inside the cavernous top of the Unit 3 reactor in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
#Fukufhima reactor meltdown series#
The claustrophobic gear seems straight out of a thriller about a zombie apocalypse.įixing Fukushima is a CNET multipart series that explores the role technology plays in cleaning up the worst nuclear disaster in history.Īnd then there's that itch I just can't scratch. Walking around isn't easy, and the gear feels like an awkward second - and third, and fourth - skin. I'm also wearing two layers of socks and heavy rubber boots. I'm wearing white Tyvek coveralls over my trousers, shirt and head, which is capped off by a bright yellow hard hat.
![fukufhima reactor meltdown fukufhima reactor meltdown](https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/21/1400670130400/Fukushima-Daiichi-nuclear-012.jpg)
My hand clumsily holds a reporter's notebook and pen. I instinctively reach up, but my fingers, wrapped in three gloves - one made of cloth, two of latex - hit the clear plastic shield of my full-face respirator mask. To learn more about the ongoing cleanup efforts, read Japan's latest report, issued to the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month. Editor's note: This story originally ran on March 4, 2018, and we're reposting it for the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster to give readers a sense of the technology being employed to fix this enormous problem, which continues today.