Damaged Reactors at Japanese Nuclear Plant Could Take 30 Years to Retire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y67S54Q0QBk&feature=related
Above is a video from MSNBC reporting in March on the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and the beginnings of the distribution of radiation in the area. The article below reports on the progress or the continuation of the issues with the nuclear power plant.

November 1, 2011,
After the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant along the coast, it is estimated that the decommissioning or four reactors will likely take more than 30 years to complete. Japanese officials report that the decommissioning at Fukushima is complicated and the goal to start taking out debris and finish decommissioning within a 10 year period is estimated to extend to 30 years. Temperatures in the three reactors of the nuclear plant since the disaster have been brought down to 100 degrees Celsius, but the company needs to maintain the conditions for a while before the reactors are declared to be in cold shutdown and then debris will be able to be removed. The removal of fuel at the plant is expected to take years as well because the extent of the damage was very severe. It is expected to take years to clean up the worst nuclear disasters since Chernobyl since hydrogen explosions blew apart the No.1 and No.3 reactor housings, the No. 2 reactor is also suspected to have experienced a hydrogen blast and the No. 4 reactor housing experienced damage from fires caused by heat of the fuel. Volunteers collecting data around Japan have found that a significant amount of radiation has contaminated the water and released into the Pacific Ocean and it will take a lot of time for the contamination to be dispersed and diluted. Radioactive particles from the nuclear plant has displaced around 80,000 people living within 20 kilometer radius of the plant along with residents of a village about 40 kilometers northwest of the plant.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/japan-nuclear/index.html?hpt=wo_c2