Two-and-a-half years after the tsunami-induced triple meltdown at Fukushima, Japan’s once-vaunted nuclear industry remains a shambles. Just two of 50 reactors are operating. The effort to decommission the stricken Fukushima plant continues to resemble an episode of the Keystone Kops. A rat gnawed through a cable, causing a dangerous power outage. In July, after months of obfuscation, Tokyo Electric Power, the semi-nationalised operator, admitted the plant was leaking radioactive water into the ocean. This month the government stepped in to contain the leak with an untested process to freeze the ground around the plant. Current estimates suggest it will take decades and cost more than $10bn to decommission Fukushima. So much for cheap nuclear fuel.
海嘯引發的福島(Fukushima)核電站三重熔融事故過去已兩年半，日本國內曾一度備受推崇的核工業依然一片混亂。50座反應堆中，運行中的只有兩座。試圖讓癱瘓的福島核電站退役的努力，仍然像滑稽喜劇片《基斯頓警察》(Keystone Kops)裏的一幕：老鼠咬斷了電纜，導致危險的斷電。今年7月，經過數月的含糊其辭後，半國有化的營運商東京電力公司(Tokyo Electric Power)終於承認福島電站受到輻射的廢水正向海洋中滲露。本月日本政府開始介入，凍住電站周圍的地面來阻止洩露，不過此方法尚未經過測試。目前的估計顯示，福島核電站退役需要耗時數十年，花費高於100億美元。對於廉價的核燃料，這樣的代價可謂不菲。