Courtesy of Tyler Durden
On Friday, April 15, TEPCO released what is the most conclusive video of the devastation at Fukushima. After watching these three clips we fail to see how even the most optimistic of individuals see the situation as resolving with anything but entombment, which however judging by the urgency in Japan’s actions will be the first even on the agenda…in 2015. In other Fukushima news, we learn that after declining for a few days, the seawater around the reactor has once again seen a surge in radioactivity (Kyodo), that fuel rods have melted through not one, not two, but all three active reactors at Fukushima, but not to panic: all is well as long as these are cooled down, by the same water that will eventually seep into the ocean of into the groundwater considering the cooling system is destroyed beyond repair (Japan Times), that TEPCO itself, following weeks of denials, will not only be nationalized but most likely bankrupted eventually as a push to complete the liberalization of Japan’s power industry (Asahi), but this won’t happen before TEPCO drags down the Nikkei: Reuters reports that as part of funding its reconstruction efforts, the virtually insolvent utility will be forced to liquidate up to its entire stake ($2.2 billion) in telecom giant KDDI, potentially setting off a selling waterfall across various asset classes.
Elsewhere, now that Japan will have no choice but to contend with rolling blackouts indefinitely, the country’s energy needs will be increasingly reliant on Russia’s goodwill, which now is the white knight "energetic" protector of not only Europe, but Japan (Yomiuri). Lastly, also from Yomiuri is this brief summary of just how majorly impacted Q2 GDP will be (read inventory liquidations following supply chain disruptions) following the Japan earthquake.
And exactly a month after we asked why on earth is Fukushima not "crawling with iRobots armed with cameras", the powers that be finally enacted this most glaringly obvious fix to prevent the gratuitous waste of human life.
Source: Martyn Williams
