Robot to probe melted Fukushima reactor

I hope that this effert is successful. We need to move along with the decommissioning eventually.

But this little understatement

after earlier efforts at assessment produced limited success.

points to the fact that the true situation at Fukushima Dai Ichi is STILL being clouded by double speak.

The reality is that every robot that has entered the highly contaminated areas has died.

Hang on, I thought there was no meltdown, and everything was fine, and anyone saying that there was, was fearmongering? I suppose no apology for those false statements by the government, media and TEPCO back in 2011 will be forthcoming.

Volland, I offered an empty home to the evicted but was declined by the local government. Is it okay if I criticize the government's response regarding housing of the displaced residents?

...removal of melted radioactive debris, planned in about a decade.

Good God! I suppose they'll have sentient robots by then - perhaps earlier, if the radiation on these "snakes" does the trick. (Funny how we'd all assumed the first sentient robots would be humanoid.)

The above article leaves a lot of questions. So, three reactors are experiencing melt-downs. Where is all this radiation going? And the contanimated water is continuing to leak. Where is this going?

Stories like this make the government people look like baboons. Come on Mr. Prime Minister ... you said at the Olympic bid session that everything is "under control" up there in Fukushima. When will your statement come true?

removal of melted radioactive debris, planned in about a decade

why in the... just, why bother removing melted radioactive debris... entomb the site... save money and lives.

garymalmgren: The reality is that every robot that has entered the highly contaminated areas has died.

Almost four years on and they're still trying to make the robot to fix the problem.

The much-vaunted Asimo robot is about as much use as a chocolate teapot in this situation, but robots are the way forward.

I think the reactor cores have melted right through the concrete and are polluting the water table and the sea. This is the kind of thing the LDP will declare as a secret, so we'll never know the truth.

Hang on, I thought there was no meltdown, and everything was fine, and anyone saying that there was, was fearmongering?

FOLKS quit pushing this. The government admitted there was a meltdown almost immediately after 3/11. Why do people keep suggesting otherwise?

I can show you news reports from 3/13 with direct quotes from the government stating that evidence points to a meltdown and they are proceeding under the assumption that a meltdown had occurred.

There has been no way to actually view the interior of the affected reactors as of yet due to the very high levels of radiation on site, which is why it is impossible to assess the precise status of the cores.