Inside the sarcophagus at Chernobyl

[Katashi_itto]

[newfie11]

1. Thank you so much for posting this

It is fascinating to lean more about the aftermath of Chernobyl.

[dotymed]

2. As the Russian scientist said.

They die from heart failure.
Our government knows this also. I helped build nuclear waste containment facilities in my early 40's, in Cincinnati ,Ohio.
A year later, I suffered multiple Myocardial infarctions while helping to rebuild after Katrina.

Our Union was contacted by "our" government who told us that we may have been contaminated by nuclear waste.
After I was able to fly back to Ohio for my physical, the gubbiment men had left town without a trace leaving a lot of sick and dying Union carpenters behind.
Our local never heard from the nuclear people again. I worked (with heart failure) for as long as I could.
SS put off my disability long enough to drastically cut my monthly checks and ensure that I couldn't draw my regular disability retirement.
IMO, this was to keep their dirty little secret.
Watch out Cincinnati.

[PCIntern]

3. Wow. Thanks...k n r! nt

[zeemike]

4. Now that is scary.

And to think it is not over yet, and we have another disaster in Fukishema...and they want to build lots more of them...unbelievable stupidity..

[magical thyme]

5. frightening...

It's so easy to think of Chernobyl as contained and essentially over. Apparently not even close.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

6. Will he come here and tell all that this is proof that all is well?

I bet yes!

[progree]

7. Fukushima operator starts dangerous fuel-rod removal Monday

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2013, 11:31 AM - Edit history (1)

(similar news for another disastrous nuclear site)

http://news.yahoo.com/fukushima-operator-start-dangerous-fuel-rod-removal-035712952.html

The fuel rods are bundled together in so-called assemblies which must be pulled out of the storage pool where they were being kept when a tsunami smashed into Fukushima in March 2011. There are more than 1,500 such assemblies in the pool.

Over the course of two days, the company said it expects to remove 22 assemblies, with the entire operation scheduled to run for more than a year.

Experts have warned that slip-ups could trigger a rapid deterioration in the situation. Even minor mishaps will create considerable delays in the already long and complicated decommissioning.

While such operations are routine at other nuclear plants, the disaster has made conditions far more complex, TEPCO has said.

... The work pales in comparison with the much more complex task that awaits engineers, who will have to remove the misshapen cores of three other reactors that went into meltdown before being brought under control two years ago.

===========

One thing about the Chernobyl scientists -- the BBC film made them out to be a dedicated professional self-sacrificing group.

But a few months ago I read this chilling story about the people doing a lot of the work at Fukushima:

Special Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters
http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-help-wanted-fukushima-low-pay-high-050626106--sector.html
(about work being done by subcontractors to subcontractors to contractors ... and organized crime involved throughout)

With wages flat and workers scarce, labor brokers have stepped into the gap, recruiting people whose lives have reached a dead end or who have trouble finding a job outside the disaster zone.

The result has been a proliferation of small firms - many unregistered. Some 800 companies are active inside the Fukushima plant and hundreds more are working in the decontamination effort outside its gates, according to Tepco and documents reviewed by Reuters.

...Japan's nuclear industry has relied on cheap labor since the first plants, including Fukushima, opened in the 1970s. For years, the industry has rounded up itinerant workers known as "nuclear gypsies" from the Sanya neighborhood of Tokyo and Kamagasaki in Osaka, areas known for large numbers of homeless men.

...The complexity of Fukushima contracts and the shortage of workers have played into the hands of the yakuza, Japan's organized crime syndicates, which have run labor rackets for generations.

=== and this =====

Just How Tough Is It to Find Workers to Clean Up the Fukushima Reactor?
Japan's elderly have tried to step up in hopes of saving younger workers from potential radiation exposure, but harsh work conditions make recruitment for the cleanup a major challenge.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/just-how-tough-is-it-to-find-workers-to-clean-up-the-fukushima-reactor/280961/

==== and this =====

Fukushima water storage tanks flawed, workers say
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-water-storage-tanks-flawed-workers-say

(About the incredibly rushed and shoddy construction of the radioactive water storage tanks)