[JERRY2KONE]

This was the first positive report I have read on this matter since it first began. According to Tepco they have laid out a nine month long plan that in the end will allow them to reach a complete cold shutdown of the entire plant. It started this morning with them completing a temporary storage facility for pumping out contaminated water from the plant and ciculating it into a cooling pond. This will allow them to get back into the basement of one of the reactors to make repairs to the first stage cooling system in order for them to get that system back on line soon. Once this is accomplished they can return to cooling the ractors and begin reducing the temps to a point where high levels of radiation is no longer being released.

Once they get to that phase they can begin removing the rods and radioactive material from the cores one by one, and placing it into a safe zone. Once all of the material is removed they will beging the long process of clean up and permanant shutdown of the plant. From the sounds of it they have no intentions of rebuilding this plant or replacing it any time soon. Once this level is reached they will allow people to return to their homes in the area and begin rebuilding their lives.

I am sure that there will be a very large study and long term reorganization of these nuclear plants across Japan in order to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. They admit that there is a lot of improvements and redesigning that needs to be done in order to make these plants safe and avoid any further disasters down the road. I hope that this incident moves other countries to do the same.