Water and human arrogance

March 12, 2014

Yoroku: Fukushima's harsh lessons learned far too late

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140312p2a00m0na008000c.html

The Japanese term "tetto" refers to an iron tub and was used as a metaphor for a solid substance in the old days. "Tetto no jin," or literally brigades of iron tubs, refers to a watertight lineup, while "Tetto mizu o morasazu" (An iron tub doesn't leak water) is a saying about being thoroughly prepared.

As the proverb goes, the tanks holding radioactively contaminated water at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant shouldn't have spilled a drop. However, some 100 metric tons of highly radioactive water leaked from the tanks last month. The number of such storage tanks holding contaminated water has reportedly topped 1,000 at the plant. Even three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the onset of the nuclear disaster, our struggle with water still continues.

As ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi once said, in the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water, yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it. The difficulties of handling the contaminated water, which slipped through the narrowest loophole in human preparedness that was believed rock-solid, reminds us once again of the absurd arrogance of us humans, who are responsible for the ongoing nuclear catastrophe.

The decommissioning of reactors at the Fukushima plant is estimated to take three to four decades, and workers there just started pulling out fuel rods from the spent nuclear fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor last fall. The biggest challenge they face for the time being is, however, to contain the influx of underground water that keeps adding to the number of tanks holding contaminated water. Construction of impermeable walls using frozen soil is planned in order to stem such groundwater inflow.

The government is planning to start pulling out nuclear fuel from the No. 1 through No. 3 reactors in fiscal 2020, the crucial point in the decommissioning process. Development of new technologies such as unmanned robots capable of probing nuclear reactors will be indispensable, while radiation exposure management for workers at the plant is strictly called for. The decommissioning will be an unprecedented technological and social challenge for humankind.

We will be called upon to carefully keep an eye on all possible risks and take flexible responses. Indeed, it was us humans who had to be like water in attacking that which is hard and strong, in drawing up safety measures for nuclear plants. There is a long way to go before decommissioning work is completed, for which we must make the most of the lessons we learned way too late. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)