It takes 40 years to close Japanese nuclear power plant

Efforts to bring the reactors in the Fukushima I nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan to a state of permanent shutdown may last up to 2050.

>>>Officially closed Fukushima nuclear power plant

AFP reported yesterday that the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced the roadmap to bring reactors in the Fukushima nuclear power plant into a state of total inactivity. According to the roadmap, the entire plant closure process may take place over 4 decades. Engineers will try to safely handle nuclear fuel in the reactors over the next 10 years. Future technologies will play an important role in the process of "cleaning up" the nuclear fuel used in the kilns.

"We will face many technical challenges for each step in the process of bringing the reactor to a permanent shutdown ," said Goshi Hosono, Japan's Environment Minister.

Hosono said the government will spend money to take all necessary measures to disable the reactors, and to publish all information related to the process - including those that have been gain and problems arising.

A Japanese government expert committee estimated the minimum cost for disabling the reactors could reach $ 14.8 billion.

TEPCO will continue to pour water into the reactors to cool it down until the workers take all the debris inside.

Last weekend Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced the reactors of the Fukushima I nuclear power plant had reached a state of inactivation (cold shutdown).

A reactor enters a state of inactivation when the water cools down the nuclear fuel in an oven with an air pressure and a temperature below 95 degrees Celsius. With temperatures below 95 degrees C, water will not boil even when The pressure in the furnace cooling system decreases. In some cases, the term "cool down" is used to describe the state of the reactor after the nuclear fuel melts. However, experts say this is an incorrect use of words.