Fukushima nuclear disaster: IAEA unsure if clean-up will be complete by 2051 as planned

A decade after the disaster triggered by an earthquake and tsunami, the International Atomic Energy Agency says too little is known about the damage

The UN agency has agreed to help facilitate the decommissioning of the plant and monitor Japan’s planned disposal of contaminated water

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The damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, and tanks holding radioactive water from it. Photo: AP

Published: 4:05pm, 28 Aug 2021Updated: 9:09pm, 28 Aug 2021

Too little is known about melted fuel inside damaged reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to be able to tell if its decommissioning can be finished by 2051 as planned, a UN nuclear agency official said on Friday.

“Honestly speaking, I don’t know, and I don’t know if anybody knows,” said Christophe Xerri, head of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team reviewing progress in the plant’s clean-up.

He urged Japan to speed up studies of the reactors to achieve a better long-term understanding of the decommissioning process.

A massive earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011 destroyed cooling systems at the Fukushima plant in northeastern Japan, triggering meltdowns in three reactors in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Japanese government and utility officials say they hope to finish its decommissioning within 30 years, though some experts say that is too optimistic, even if a full decommissioning is possible at all.

The biggest challenge is removing and managing highly radioactive fuel debris from the three damaged reactors, said Xerri, the director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology.