ABSTRACT
In the fi rst hours of the March 11th accident, workers rushed to fl ood three damaged reactors with seawater to prevent a catastrophic meltdown (Brumfi el and Cyranoski 2011). Three months later, water was still being pumped into the cores and has since become the biggest obstacle to cleaning up the site. Residual nuclear decay in the three reactors-which all suffered total meltdowns-means that they will need cooling for many months. TEPCO switched to using fresh water two weeks after the accident as the salt water corroded the stainless steel reactor vessels. Eventually, TEPCO dumped more than 10,000 tons of low-level contaminated water into the Pacifi c Ocean and admitted that several hundred tons of highly contaminated water also leaked out, exposing marine life to large doses of radiation (Brumfi el and Cyranoski 2011).
