New Fukushima pictures show wreckage of plant

A newly-released picture of the unit 3 reactor building at Fukushima taken on March 15, 2011
A newly-released picture of the unit 3 reactor building at Fukushima taken on March 15, 2011. Shattered remains of a reactor building are graphically shown in more than 2,000 newly released images of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the days after a huge tsunami smashed into Japan.

The shattered remains of a reactor building loom against a lowering sky, smoke or steam pouring from a gaping roof in the days after a huge tsunami smashed into Japan, crushing a nuclear power plant.

This is just one of the more than 2,000 previously unseen images released by Fukushima operator Power showing the period between March 15, 2011, just four days after the tsunami struck, and April 11.

In some, a brochure blue sky glints with spring sunshine, giving no hint of the being pumped into it from the crippled reactors, sent into meltdown when failed.

The pictures show fragments of plant machinery, vehicles and power station detritus mixed together in the swirling waters and dumped when the sea retreated.

A newly-released picture of the dry cask storage building at Fukushima taken on March 17, 2011
A newly-released picture of the dry cask storage building at Fukushima taken on March 17, 2011

It was into an air heavy with the stench of industrial oils and rotting sea life left behind that workers rushed as they battled to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster for a generation.

The photographs show the rudimentary conditions they had to deal with as they battled to cool reactors; the power lines downed, tankers over-turned and metal good only for scrap lying everywhere.

A newly-released picture of water being sprayed on the unit 3 reactor building at Fukushima taken on March 15, 2011
A newly-released picture of water being sprayed on the unit 3 reactor building at Fukushima taken on March 15, 2011. A brochure blue sky glints with spring sunshine, giving no hint of the radioactive particles being pumped into it from the crippled reactors, sent into meltdown when cooling systems failed.

Almost two years since the disaster, the reactor units are now under control, but the clean up is far from complete.

Tens of thousands of people remain displaced, unable to return to their homes in the shadow of the power plant.

Scientists warn it could take 40 years to make some parts of the area safe again; others may never be habitable.

The tsunami claimed around 19,000 lives and destroyed swathes of northeast Japan. No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the .

(c) 2013 AFP

Citation: New Fukushima pictures show wreckage of plant (2013, February 4) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2013-02-fukushima-pictures-wreckage.html
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