Chapter 520 - 509: The Experts Group’s Advice_1

"Congratulations, Chief Designer An... No, Mr. Androff!"

Dou Ping personally carried a flower basket to the entrance of Stellar Aerospace Power Company’s headquarters, and then shook hands with Androff.

Although Androff was still busy with the improvements to Xuehu, it didn’t prevent him from taking the time to establish an aviation company amidst his packed schedule.

Two months ago, the base had started preparations to spin off the aviation business, boldly acquiring an aircraft accessories factory and an engine overhaul factory from Airworthiness Manufacture, and then relocating 1,200 base engineers and senior technicians with a third of the equipment here.

Stellar Aerospace Power Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xinyuan Company, and with the staff from the retained two factories, the total number of employees exceeds 2,500. The equipment from the base is still being transferred continuously, and technical documentation had been directly moved by trucks, culminating in a top-tier stature right from the start.

Stellar Company only retained a small portion of the highly technical businesses with Airworthiness Manufacture and was about to prepare for the production of C810 and a small number of C832 parts, and starting next year, it would have capabilities for the total assembly of complete aircraft.

As for the production of aviation engines, the processes were complete; Androff had already planned a series of new projects for fanjets, turboshafts, and gas turbines. The aviation division, having separated from the base, was now able to work freely and make a big splash.

Dou Ping was somewhat worried that An was indulging in the civilian business for profit and would relax his efforts on the Xuehu project, but this was entirely unnecessary.

The director of Factory 132 was also present at the opening ceremony. At this moment, looking at those former sub-factory employees, he had a strange expression on his face.

They were all from the same group, so why did it seem like their spirit had changed after being acquired?

It has to be said that Stellar Company really had money; backed by the large tree that was Xinyuan, the minimum salary was ridiculously high. What kind of big businesses were they preparing to handle to afford these nearly three thousand people?

...

Edo, Fukushima Industrial Zone.

A team of experts from seven countries, specially invited by The International Atomic Energy Agency, only rested one night after their plane landed before they checked their equipment and were ready to head into the site of the accident for inspection.

The prefect of Futo Prefecture, Sato Yuhei, and the President of Edo Electric Power Company, Tomoaki Kobayakawa, both personally followed the experts, suited up in protective gear to accompany them.

Sitting in the car heading to Reactor 5, Kobayakawa briefed the experts on the current situation.

In 2011, the "3.11" earthquake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, caused the leak of radioactive material, and after assessment that year, the Atomic Energy Security Department categorized the accident as the highest level 7.

In October 2013, due to an operational error, 7 tons of nuclear wastewater was accidentally discharged into the sea. The following month, shutting down operations was carried out on two nuclear reactors.

But shutting them down did not mean absolute safety; the accident site was still continuously producing nuclear pollution, and Edo Electric Power Company had accumulated millions of tons of contaminated water in just a few short years.

The idea of discharging into the sea actually came quite early, and the reasons given seemed to make sense:

With the level of radiation from Fukushima Power Station, even if uranium rods were dropped into the Pacific Ocean, it would just be a drop in the bucket; let alone wastewater with even lower content. Naturally occurring uranium in the sea is not small in quantity, and extracting yellowcake (uranium ore concentrate) from seawater has been an important means of obtaining nuclear material. Theoretically, such amounts of wastewater wouldn’t really affect anything.

But this was just to deceive the ordinary people; if this wastewater were to be evenly distributed across the entire Pacific Ocean, it would indeed be a different story, but it was planned to be discharged from Edo Bay!

Even with the presence of ocean currents, the impact of such a large volume of nuclear wastewater concentrating in a short period should not be overlooked. It would certainly cause an environmental disaster, and contaminated plants and animals entering the food chain would directly affect the fisheries issues of all countries in the western Pacific Ocean. It was not as simple as they made it out to be.

Of course, The International Atomic Energy Agency was not foolish, and Edo Electric Power Company’s rationale could not deceive them. They might have let it go before, but now the IAEA’s expert team had a mission, and Kobayakawa’s words had no influence whatsoever.

The silence of the 13 experts made Kobayakawa feel somewhat embarrassed but helpless. This time the team included experts from the five permanent members of the Security Council, and with the amendment of the Outer Space Treaty having passed a few days earlier, he vaguely sensed something was amiss and had no choice but to wait and see.

As the car neared the destination, the experts checked each other’s protective suits and continuously used Geiger counters to ensure the radiation levels remained below the safety threshold, but as long as they were not close to the core area, the levels were still quite low, just noticeably higher than environmental levels.

The inspection process was very swift. The experts split into groups to designated sampling points to complete sampling and data surveys, then immediately returned, with minimal conversation throughout, thereby saving time.

In just three days, they had surveyed the entire contaminated area, then held an analysis meeting in a hotel in Futo Prefecture, with Edo Electric Power Company and the Island Country’s Atomic Energy Security Department joining as observers.

The experts, who had been silent for days, now had grave expressions, almost undistinguishable from when they wore masks. This made Kobayakawa uneasy.

Although he admitted that discharging nuclear wastewater into the ocean directly might have some issues, Edo Electric Power Company had managed the shutdown properly. He hadn’t noticed any significant hidden dangers while following the inspection and sampling, so he didn’t understand the need for such solemnity.

Could it be that these high-level experts they invited didn’t like to talk?

After some deliberation and exchange regarding the analysis reports they had obtained over the past few days, the experts’ faces became even more solemn. Unable to bear it any longer, Kobayakawa blurted out,

"Ladies and gentlemen, is there a problem with our work? Or has the IAEA’s assessment criteria changed?"

After his words fell, the room seemed to freeze for a moment; then Tomarsov, with his heavily accented English, solemnly began to speak,

"This is merely the surface. Although the survey data didn’t exceed the danger levels too much, the diffusion area is too vast, covering too broad a range. The initial response to the accident was too slow, leading to the spread of too much radioactive dust."

"The entire industrial park and its surroundings have already been marked as an uninhabitable zone, where we must excavate all the soil in the top layer to a depth of at least one meter within a 50-kilometer radius around the industrial park and deeply bury it beneath the ground at a depth of 1,000 meters to thoroughly address the pollution problem."

"50 kilometers?!"

Tomoaki Kobayakawa doubted whether he had misheard the figure—it would mean turning over the entire Futo Prefecture and the surrounding land. How much soil would that be?

"It’s about 20 billion tons of soil. You’d better start preparing excavators right away. We’ve found that the soil here is rather loose. Actually, it’s not that hard to dig up and can be completed quickly.

You must take this seriously. Filling in the reactor alone is far from enough. Although the concentration of pollutants in the surrounding soil and air is low, the impact is long-lasting, and that is the real long-term problem."

Oh, and don’t forget to dig deep wells in the relatively stable inland plains, where the burying depth should be at least 1,000 meters. Perhaps you could try excavating dead volcanoes."

Tomarsov calmly stated one horrifying figure after another, and what was most outrageous was that the other experts actually nodded thoughtfully?

Stupid fool! Do you know what you are talking about?

But faced with the IAEA’s international experts, Tomoaki Kobayakawa, no matter how furious, had to suppress his anger and respond:

"This is absolutely impossible, sir. Even with the entire might of the Island Country, it would be difficult to meet your demands. It’s just too challenging, and I’m afraid that the implementation might continue to pollute the lower layers of soil, making it difficult to achieve the goal."

Tomarsov stroked his chin, pondering for a moment:

"That does seem to be the case, which is problematic. Academician Zhou, do you have any good ideas?"

Academician Zhou, who had been asked, also showed a troubled expression, frowning as he spoke:

"It won’t be easy to clean up this contaminated land in a short time. Actually, we cannot ignore the residual radiation in the air either; it’s really tough.

Mr. Kobayakawa, your response has been far too delayed."

"I’m truly sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you!"

Kobayakawa could only bow deeply to apologize, and then he heard the American expert, Joan Johnson, speak:

"Actually, I have an idea that requires less expense and is very effective, and the IAEA can take over the resolution. The Island Country authorities won’t need to pay."

Seeing Johnson take the initiative, Kobayakawa’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said:

"Please tell us, we will definitely cooperate!"

IAEA taking over meant dumping the mess and of course, Kobayakawa couldn’t ask for anything better.

Upon seeing his reaction, Johnson stood up, walked over to Tomarsov, and whispered something to him. After a while, Tomarsov’s face changed colors, and he pulled Academician Zhou into the discussion, causing Zhou’s expression to also become unsettled.

Then, as if making some major sacrifice, Academician Zhou nodded heavily.

Subsequently, the other experts all gathered into a small circle to discuss, and after a while, they returned to their seats.

Johnson remained standing, speaking with slight hesitation:

"Mr. Kobayakawa, do you truly wish for the IAEA to take over the handling?"

"Of course, we are very willing to follow the guidance of professionals, no problem at all."

After Johnson nodded slightly, he lowered his head for a moment, then spread his hands and shrugged:

"Alright, if you also agree to use a hydrogen bomb for airburst cleaning of radiation, we have already discussed it—Huaxia Nuclear can immediately provide a ready-made hydrogen bomb with a yield of 15 million tons, and it has been decided to waive the manufacturing and deployment costs of the hydrogen bomb, so you won’t have to pay;

Moreover, an airburst of a hydrogen bomb can solve not only the land radiation but also vaporize the nuclear wastewater storage tanks, cleansing the residuals from millions of tons of wastewater at once.

Please quickly evacuate the nearby residents. We will now contact the Chinese Air Force to prepare the aircraft for airdrop, and carry out radiation cleanup this week.

Hey, pack up, gentlemen, we need to rush back and calculate the blast wave range—and also, remember that the surrounding power supply and communications might be affected by the electromagnetic pulse, so be sure to prepare for a shutdown. It won’t be any trouble without power."

As he finished speaking, the rest of the experts very synchronously stood up and began gathering their documents. Kobayakawa watched their movements, dumbfounded, trying to say something but feeling his brain stiffen, uncontrollably toppling over to one side.

"President!"

"Quick, call an ambulance!"