Since the reactors failed and the ensuing hydrogen
explosions leaps of progress have been made. Since that time radiation levels
have dropped significantly. Clean up is heavily underway. The disaster area is
now compared to what is known as a “cold shutdown.” The NRC defines a cold
shutdown as “The term used to define a reactor coolant
system at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature below 200
degrees Fahrenheit following a reactor cooldown.”
The NISA recently released the
following statement regarding the current condition and state of the nuclear
reactors and the safety status of the area, "The Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters
evaluated that the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi NPS, TEPCO, were brought to a
condition equivalent to 'cold shutdown' and, even if an unforeseeable incident
occurs, the exposure dose at the site boundaries can be kept at a sufficiently
low level as a result of evaluation of the securing of safety at nuclear
reactor facility of Fukushima Daiichi NPS, TEPCO, at the completion phase of
Step 2, stating that a safe condition has been achieved and the accident at the
NPS itself has come to be settle." [NISA]
Locals are
constructing bathhouse murals in honor of the disaster. Tougher restrictions on
rice farmers are being implemented. Searching gravel surrounding the area for radiation
is still common place. The exact effect that this will have on the ocean’s
ecosystem, and the how much radiation was leaked is not know exactly yet. Many
thousands are still displaced and homeless. However, Japan seems to be moving forward,
and after so much devastation is seem as though maybe there is light at the end
of the tunnel and things are begging to return to some state of normality.
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