Probing Fukushima with cosmic rays should speed cleanup
Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - 14:00
in Physics & Chemistry
A Los Alamos technique called muon tomography can safely peer inside the cores of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors and create high-resolution images of the damaged nuclear material inside without ever breaching the cores themselves. The initiative, scheduled for development in partnership with Toshiba Corporation, could reduce the time required to clean up the disabled complex by at least a decade and greatly reduce radiation exposure to personnel working at the plant.