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Path To Recovery 3 Years On
People across Japan will pause to mark the third anniversary of the quake and tsunami
They'll honor more than 18,000 people killed
by the disaster and it's lingering impact and the roughly 2,600 people still missing
They'll also reflect on the continuing crisis at the nuclear plant in Fukushima
The work to decommission the facility is still in it's early days and will stretch on for years
Catherine is standing by about 20 kilometers from Fukushima Daiichi
I'm at the strategic base for the decommissioning of the plants reactors
The thousands of workers involved in decommissioning the nuclear plant come
through this facility everyday Tepco or Tokyo Electric Power Company operates it
This place is called J Village
This facility was originally meant for a completely different purpose
Lets take a look at how events unfolded at Fukushima Daiichi three years ago
A magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a gigantic tsunami off the coast of northeastern Japan
They knocked out all power sources and backup generators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex
causing meltdowns in 3 reactors
Firefighters and self defense forces were sent to help stabilize the situation
The damaged reactors released enormous amounts of radioactive substances
Contaminating vast areas both on land and at sea
Three years on a large area of land remains uninhabited
Here's the layout of the evacuation zones In the area shown in red radiation exposure
levels remain 50 times above the limit for the civilian population
The zone remains off limits In orange areas residents are allowed to visit
their homes during the day but they're not allowed to stay overnight
Radiation levels are comparatively low in the yellow areas
These zones are being decontaminated to allow evacuees to return
The total number of evacuees from these areas stands at 81,000
The nuclear accident also dealt a heavy blow to Fukushima's main industries particularly fishing
The government adopted strict standards on radiation levels in sea food
They prevent fishermen from selling their
catch if radioactive particles exceed 100 becquerels per kilogram
Shipments of seafood from Fukushima prefecture are only 2 percent of what they were before the disaster
Agriculture was also seriously affected by the accident
It remains at a standstill in evacuation zones The situation has improved outside those areas
Farmers there are once again able to ship their products after testing them for radiation
The volume of shipments is now back to 80 percent of pre disaster levels
Let's turn to the situation at the nuclear plant itself
After the accident Tepco built a system to inject cooling water into the reactor cores
The utility says the fuel that melted down is now stable
But the water used to cool it becomes highly contaminated and it's constantly accumulating
in the basements of the complex To prevent this water from overflowing and
polluting the ocean workers are storing it in hundreds of tanks
Thousands of workers are mobilized every day to decommission the plant
In many areas they have to cope with very high levels of radiation
Let's go back to Catherine at J Village
Few people outside of Japan have heard of this facility but it's played a crucial role during the nuclear crisis
The J in J Village stands for Japan It was built 17 years ago as the country's
first national training center for soccer players
Look behind me at the parking lot That used to be one of many soccer pitches here
The ground has been covered with gravel to
make space for hundreds of vehicles Japanese leaders considered several factors
when choosing this location and converting it to a major staging area for the decommissioning
of the nuclear plant The first was the location
This facility sits on the edge of the 20 km evacuation zone and it's on the main road
leading directly to the nuclear plant Self defense force personel and firefighters used
that road right after the accident when they went in to help bring the situation under control
They used heavily armoured vehicles to approach the reactors and fire trucks to douse the
units with water Another factor in converting this place into a major staging
area for the decommissioning process was the amount of space both indoors and out
J Village is huge and is a 50 hectare property with twelve soccer fields
That means plenty of level ground for supplies and equipment
It's hard to imagine that just a few years ago soccer fans came here to watch their national
players train Even the main stadium is completely different
The stands are still there but the pitch has been converted to accomodate dormitories for the workers
Six hundred of them live here now The clock on the scoreboard stopped right after the
earthquake struck and that's when J Village ceased to function as a sporting venue
How has the facilities roles changed over the past three years Catherine
The front line tension that prevailed during the early days of the crisis has subsided
for the most part The function of the facility has evolved instead with
the situation at Fukushima Daiichi It's now a key part in managing what's become a long term project
Work at the plant begins every day at dawn
As many as 2,000 workers report for duty at J Village
They board buses for the 40 minute ride to Fukushima Daiichi After this point access to the plant is severely
restricted and only vehicles with a special permit can get in
J Village has become a crucial base for our operations at Fukushima Daiichi
Tepco officials say they want to protect the privacy of contract workers
You won't see their faces or hear from them directly
These workers have received encouragement from at home and abroad
The walls of the facility are covered with messages of support
During the day J Village becomes a training center
Fresh recruits must attend different types of lectures
They learn about the dangers of radiation and how to minimize their exposure
Here trainees learn how to properly wear a gas mask
More than 700 people entered this program over the past month
Tepco also uses J Village to track every worker's cumulative exposure to radiation
They undergo regular checkups with a device called a whole body counter
The sensors can detect the presence of radioactive particles inside the body
They measure what's referred to as internal exposure
The screen says the results are normal but we also have more detailed figures
If the device detects an abnormally high level of radioactive particles the worker goes immediately to hospital for further evaluation
Decommissioning the plant will take between 30 and 40 years
Failure to treat the workers health as a top priority could compromise the entire operation
That operation is unprecedented and dangerous
As Tepco officials tell you workers safety is a top priority but the levels of radiation are lethal in some places inside the plant
How do they strike a balance
Good question
It's impossible for humans to examine the reactors directly due to the high levels of
radiation in some areas of the plant as you just mentioned
So engineers are working to develop technology that will get them inside without the risk
Right after the accident Tepco engineers sent a remote controlled robot inside one of the reactor buildings
The device detected tremendously high levels
of radiation and it managed to make it out Since then Tepco has used robots to survey
dangerous areas at the crippled plant The utility's need for technology has pushed
developers to design robots that can go where humans can not
Researchers and engineers are trying to make devices that can carry out more advanced decommissioning tasks
Some attended a convention in January
They are now focused on designing robots that can do decontamination work
This robot uses laser technology to clean up radioactive substances
The arms pick up the device that emits a beam
The laser can evaporate radioactive substances Then the robot uses a vacuum to collect the radioactive dust
This model is designed to cut through rubble which is littered inside the reactor buildings because of the explosions
We're proud of this robot which will be used in areas inside Fukushima Daiichi where no people can go
The most daunting challenge is removing extremely
radioactive nuclear fuel from the damaged reactors
Tepco officials say molten fuel burned through the damaged reactors and piled up at the bottom
of the containment vessels The fuel is inaccessible right now
Engineers are exploring ways to reach it They are trying to develop a thirty meter long robotic arm
It would have special sensors inside that
would create a 3D picture so engineers could monitor it's movements
Radiation could affect all electronic parts of the robot so we have to overcome that hurdle
This institute is developing a laser for the robotic arm
Teams of engineers are working on one that would slice through the melted down nuclear fuel which is now extremely hard
They also need the laser to work under water
The reactors must be filled with water to shield the emission of radiation from the fuel
The institute ran an experiment using a mock reactor
The engineers injected gas into water to clear a path for the laser so the beam wouldn't weaken
Then they aimed the laser at the simulated fuel and managed to cut some of it
But the fuel at the Fukushima plant is expected to be more difficult to deal with
Some of it mixed with debris when it melted down making it much harder than the simulated fuel
Tepco engineers don't fully understand the condition it's in
This is a huge challenge and we have to combine
techniques in ways that we have never tested before
Some combinations will work but in other cases we will have to make fundamental adjustments
There are still many hurdles Engineers haven't figured out how to collect and remove the fuel
And Tepco workers would need to carry out the job in three reactors
For now they know the technology then need
is a long way away from being put into practice
It's been three years since the accident but in many ways we are still in the early stages of the recovery effort