Japan plans to build a 1.5-km-long underground refrigeration system around the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the hope of containing groundwater contamination around the crippled facility. Radioactive water has been seeping into the groundwater and the ocean following the tsunami and earthquake of March 2011. Science alert reports: The move comes after swimming robots specially designed to remove Fukushima’s melted fuel rods ‘died’ within days of starting their mission this month, due to high levels of radioactive material destroying their wiring. The new plan is to instead freeze a wall around the area so the contaminated water can’t leach out into the Pacific Ocean. If that sounds pretty extreme, that’s because it is – the refrigeration system is going to cost the Japanese government about 35 billion yen (US$312 million) and is already more than a year behind schedule… and some experts still aren’t convinced it’ll work. The plan involves putting huge refrigeration pipes 30 metres underground, which will freeze the soil solid around them, eventually creating a 1.5-km wall around the reactor and turbine buildings. The problem is that the damaged reactors at Fukushima have to be cooled down with a whole lot of water to keep their melted cores from [...]