UK chief scientific adviser backs Tepco's handling of stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
On the same day that foreign journalists got a peek inside the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant last week, Japanese media in London were briefed by one of the UK governmentâs chief scientific advisers about his recent visit to the same place. Prof Robin Grimes (pictured), who had been part of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies which provided official advice on the 2011 Fukushima disaster to the Government, visited Fukushima Dai-ichi on Oct 10 as an independent academic.
His visit took place just weeks before the plantâs troubled operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) begins removing more than 1,500 highly radioactive spent fuel rods, each containing 80 uranium rods, from the pool inside the No 4 reactor building. Some experts have said that the removal of the fuel assemblies, which must be moved on because of the risk posed by natural disasters, is the most dangerous stage of the clean-up to date. Even the chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, Shunichi Tanaka, reportedly told Tepcoâs president Naomi Hirose that the process âinvolves a very large risk potential.â But speaking last week, the Foreign Office's chief scientific adviser Grimes gave his backing to Tepcoâs clean-up last Thursday, describing its work as âimpressiveâ. âDo I think that theyâre doing a competent job in difficult circumstances? Do I think that theyâve come up with innovative and interesting ways of dealing with a unique situation? Yes, I think they have,â Grimes said. âTheyâve had issues with leaking tanks [of contaminated water], issues of water running through the site and water, washing in rainstorms, at the surface level, of water moving underground in and out of the reactor buildings. Theyâve had to build concrete wall defences, theyâve got the frozen groundwater defences â theyâre doing some pretty damn innovative stuff. And I think itâs impressive. And I think theyâre doing as well as anyone could have done.â Grimes also said it was âamazingâ how low the radiation levels in the reactors he visited last month were. âThey were very good at giving me a handheld monitor so I could look at the dose rates I was getting. The highest level of radiation I was subject to would have meant that if I had been there for 24 hours for - I think it was something like 15 days on the trot - then I would have picked up my yearly radiation dose, and that was the very highest amount I was subject to. And of course youâre not at the point for very much of the time; youâre not getting anywhere close that a worker would be allowed to have in a year. It was amazing just how low those levels were.â As for Tepcoâs inability to prevent the flow of contaminated water into the Pacific, Grimes said the amount of contaminated water getting out of the site is âvery small.â âTepco have done some incredibly interesting and innovative engineering to make sure the leaks arenât significant from the point of view of the effect on human beings, so that it does not pose a hazard to people. And thatâs the key. But you will continue over the years occasionally see a few drops through the ceiling, thatâs inevitable.â But Grimes could not say with 100 per cent certainty that Tepco have finally got to grips with the situation. "I will never ever say a 100 per cent as an engineer. Thereâs simply no such thing. You understand my reluctance to say 100 per cent, because Iâm a scientist."











