Japanese media recently listened intently to officials describing their plans to deal with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  If the Japanese are expecting a specific time line, they shouldn’t hold their breath.  Clean up of the Chernobyl nuke plant, in Ukraine, is still ongoing, 25 years later.

The current phase of clean up, for Chernobyl, involves building a new radiation proof containment building for the damaged reactor.   The graphite fueled reactor is still emitting high levels of radiation.

In 1986 the Soviets (Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union then) buried the reactor in sand, lead, concrete and boric acid.  Then they built a concrete tomb around the building.   But that’s not enough, over time the tomb is breaking down.

The new containment building is an 18,000 ton metal arch, 110 meters (360 feet) high, 200 meters (656 feet) long and 257 meters (843 feet) wide.  They have recently laid the concrete pad for the building, it’s more than one meter (3.2 feet) thick.

The lesson is that when you’re dealing with a nuclear disaster, it’s never ending.