TEPCO Aims for 'Cold Shutdown' Within Nine Months

[Karmadillo]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704613504576268470471321638.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

TEPCO Aims for 'Cold Shutdown' Within Nine Months
APRIL 17, 2011, 7:36 A.M. ET.

By GEORGE NISHIYAMA And KOSAKU NARIOKA
Tokyo Electric Power Co. Sunday said it will aim to put its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into a state of cold shutdown in six to nine months, as it unveiled a two-step road map towards putting Japan's worst-ever nuclear crisis under control.

Tepco, as the utility is known, will also put in place a covering over the damaged reactors to contain radioactive materials which have been released into the environment since the plant was hit by the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

"We will do our utmost to ensure that people who have been forced to evacuate will be able to return to their homes and the Japanese people can live without worry," Tepco Chairman Tsuneihisa Katsumata told a nationally-televised news conference.

He said the first action would be to bring radiation leakage down over the next three months. While radiation leakage has already declined, the cumulative effect has had a growing impact on nearby towns and villages while heavily radioactive water threatens the ocean waters next to the plant.

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[corkhead]

1. deep water horizon redux

[godai]

2. In a way, yes, but at least 'cold shutdown' is an option.

They need to re-establish cooling systems in the 3 problem reactors, a slow process.