![]() ![]() Molten fuel came through here and it jetted out under very high pressure. We are standing directly underneath the reactor vessel. It went down through this grating, which was gone. The Little Sunfish swam thru this portal, down into this area, it went around the side. Lesley Stahl: Is this the route Little Sunfish took? Lake Barrett: The Little Sunfish came down on the edge and it swam underwater down through this little entryway here underneath the reactor vessel. Barrett took us into unit 5 to show us how it maneuvered through the labyrinth of pipes and debris inside the reactor. Finally, in 2017, the swimming robot made its foray into the heart of the reactor. It didn't melt down when the tsunami hit and is nearly identical to the one Little Sunfish would scout. They used nuclear reactor number five to help plan the mission. In preparing for Little Sunfish's mission, engineers spent months doing test runs inside this enormous simulation tank, fine-tuning the propellers, cameras, sensors and 65 yards of electric cable - all built to withstand intense levels of radiation. They had more success with this robot named Little Sunfish, which was designed to swim inside one of the reactors flooded with water. Lake Barrett: Well, but you learn more from- from failure sometimes than you do from success. Lesley Stahl: I can't imagine the frustration l- levels. Took a year to prepare, and it was hard work.īut when Scorpion went inside, it hit some debris and got stuck after traveling less than 10 feet. And we had great expectations and hope for that. Lake Barrett: The tail would come up with a camera on top with lights. And, like a scorpion, it raises its tail. ![]() It was designed to flatten out and slither through narrow pipes and passageways on its way to the core. This is Scorpion, whose mission cost an estimated $100 million. Lake Barrett: That was gonna be the first robot we were going to put inside the containment vessel, which is where we need the information the most 'cause that's where the core is. ![]() This is a highly sophisticated, and I gather everybody thought this was the answer. Lesley Stahl: Tell us what happened to the robot named Scorpion. We hoped it would be days, but it was for hours. We were zipped into Tyvek coveralls and made to wear two pairs of socks and 3 pairs of gloves. Correspondent Lesley Stahl and Lake Barrett suit up The closer workers get to the reactors, the more protective gear they have to wear, as we discovered. And it's going to remain a major challenge until the entire cores are removed. Lake Barrett: Water is always the major challenge here. Thousands of workers were sent to the countryside to decontaminate everything touched by radiation including digging up dirt and putting it in bags – lots of bags.īut while much of the evacuation zone has been decontaminated, there are still entire neighborhoods that are like ghost towns, silent and lifeless with radiation levels that remain too high.Īt the plant they're capturing contaminated groundwater, about 150 tons a day, and storing it in tanks, as far as the eye can see. Weeks later, TEPCO officials engaged in so-called kowtow diplomacy – allowing townspeople to berate them as they prostrated themselves in apology. The meltdowns triggered huge explosions that sent plumes of radioactive debris into the atmosphere, forcing the evacuation of everyone within a 12-mile radius – about 160,000 people in all. "No one is gonna send a worker in there because they'd be overexposed in just a matter of seconds." Lesley Stahl: So this is actually right where- where it all happened? The heart of the disaster, right here? Lake Barrett took us to a hill overlooking the reactors where the radiation levels are still relatively high. Killing more than 15,000 people.Īt Fukushima Daiichi, the enormous waves washed over the plant, flooding the reactors and knocking out power to the cooling pumps that had kept the reactor cores from overheating. The earthquake that caused the meltdown measured 9.0, The most powerful ever recorded in Japan and triggered a series of tsunami waves that swept away cars, houses and entire towns. Lake Barrett, who oversaw the cleanup of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. So these are unknowns that the Japanese and no one wants to deal with. Lake Barrett: Number one this is right next to the sea. Lesley Stahl: Why not just bury this place? Why not do what they did at Chernobyl? Just cover it up, bury it, and just leave it here all- you know, enclosed? And these engineering tasks can be done successfully. But there's a will here to clean this up as there was a will to put a man on the moon. Lake Barrett: It's even a bigger project in my view. Lesley Stahl: Should we think of this as a project like sending someone to the moon? ![]()
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