Because radio activity is "invisible" the reporting of it in the press has remarkably similar properties…Just in case you missed it, here is TEPCO's (Tokyo Electric Power Co) plan for "decommissioning". Phase 1 - in 2 years, begin the process of fuel removal from the spent fuel pools. Phase 2 - in 10 years, begin removing fuel debris (solidified fuel and melted cladding). Phase 3 - in 30-40 years, complete fuel debris removal and the processing and disposal of radioactive waste. There are over 1600 tons of spent nuclear fuel in the pools, which are in the six reactor buildings or what remains of them. TEPCO admit that "as of the end of February 2012, the full extent of the damage to the RPV (reactor pressure vessel) cores and PCVs (primary
containment vessel) was still under investigation". In other words they don't know how bad things are, but a modest little earthquake in the 5-6 range (very common in these parts) might just help them find out sometime over the next 40 years…

David Fuller's view TEPCO may be trying to lower expectations and / or costs but this is a very unsatisfactory situation for Japan and especially Fukushima. I know that Chernobyl and Three Mile Island took decades to clean up but that was before the era of industrial robots, a field in which Japan is a world leader. Why can't they can be use to expedite the clean-up process?