20. Decontamination
Please skim over the legal sections in the text.
Thank you for the typo report.
20. Decontamination
Having concluded the talks, we were temporarily evacuated to the H3-class assault landing ship AA-0001. Naturally, the escort carrier-based aircraft were also accompanying us, providing cover during the withdrawal.
By six o’clock that evening, a transmission arrived from the communications device we’d left behind at the residence: the evacuation of personnel and critical materials from the decontamination zone had been completed.
Four decontamination workboats and two general-purpose workboats—already constructed aboard the orbital shipyard SII-001 near Jupiter—had already launched and were scheduled to arrive at Earth in six hours. The shipyard SII-001 was currently manufacturing four nuclear fusion power units, each outputting 100 megawatts, along with supporting equipment, and was said to be on schedule to complete the assembly by midday tomorrow.
Decontamination work vessels were cylindrical spacecraft, packed with nanobots designed to absorb and neutralize radioactive materials. Once dispersed over the target zone, these nanobots would seep into the ground, ingest any radioactive substances they encountered, and perform elemental transmutation within minutes, rendering them harmless. The maximum operational duration was seventy-two hours; after that, they were programmed to self-destruct, safely neutralizing even themselves.
According to estimates, two decontamination work vessels would suffice to supply the required nanobot volume for the target area. Nevertheless, an excess number of vessels was dispatched—just in case.
General work vessels were tasked with removing facilities remaining in the target area and transporting unprocessed waste piles, along with unnecessary materials like iron components and nuclear fuel rods that could not be decontaminated by nanobots, to the assault landing carrier AA-0001 stationed above.
The following day, at 07:50, two general work vessels—previously stored aboard the provisional flagship AA-0001—launched toward the decontamination operation zone.
At 07:55, the general work vessels arrived above the decontamination operation zone.
Numerous reporters, arranged in a perimeter around the site, stood rigidly clad from head to toe in protective suits—unnecessary at that distance, one might think—holding cameras steady, watching the situation unfold.
On the sea, a few patrol vessels—white hulls striped with blue—had emerged, monitoring the area to prevent civilian vessels from approaching the work zone. Those that came too close were warned over loudspeakers.
Precisely eight o’clock. Work began.
Two civilian work craft approached the derelict reactor building from north and south, beginning to spray a white mist from their fronts. This was a specially tuned nanobot swarm, designed to weaken the cohesion between concrete particles, then induce vibrations to fracture the material. Once their task was done, they self-destructed within minutes.
The concrete structure, now coated with nanobots, crumbled into sand—leaving only scattered steel beams and metal fragments behind.
The general work craft moved on to the next structure, repeating the same procedure. Within twenty minutes, the task was complete. It then circled the row of numerous contaminated water tanks, removing their lids, and once the work was done, ascended to a safe altitude to await further instructions—out of the way of the decontamination craft.
By then, four decontamination work crafts had already descended and begun operations, releasing decontamination nanobots at a low altitude over the target zone.
Visually, it resembled aerial pesticide application over a large-scale farm. In reality, the nanobots themselves appeared as a fine white powder. The dispersal operation continued across bagged, piled-up waste soil, the contaminated water tanks, the ruins of the buildings, and even the adjacent sea. The work concluded swiftly. The four decontamination craft were then directly lifted back up to AA-0001.
About an hour later, the two waiting work shuttles descended once more. One began recovering reinforced concrete, steel frames, other steel components, and surrounding materials already decontaminated by nanobots. The reactor core, melted beyond salvage, was being cut apart and retrieved. The other shuttle initiated retrieval of fuel rods and similar materials inaccessible to nanobots inside.
The work shuttles, now fully loaded, made several round trips to AA-0001 for cargo offloading. By eleven a.m., the Decontamination Operation itself was complete.
According to the operations officer in AA-0001’s command module, radioactive material had penetrated the ground only as deep as expected—so the decontamination of the target area was likely to be finished within forty-eight hours, no more.
It was reported that the Japanese Government had, in a quasi-legal judgment—calling it an unavoidable necessity for communication, despite the act being a crime under domestic law—granted immunity regarding yesterday’s radio hijacking. Consequently, we had already requested and received approval from the Japanese Government to borrow television broadcast frequencies for approximately three minutes at noon. State broadcaster NKH, as expected, had agreed, and it seems the private broadcasters had also consented.
12:00 p.m.
"This is Keiichi Yamada from Agirakana. Once again, we apologize for borrowing your airwaves. As announced by the Japanese Government yesterday, we have completed the decontamination operation within the designated area, along with the dismantling and removal of the buildings, reactors, stored radioactive waste, nuclear fuel, and other materials, starting at eight a.m. this morning. We are pleased to report that all operations were successfully concluded by eleven a.m., as planned. While it will still take two more days—forty-eight hours—for radiation levels to return to pre-accident standards, even without protective suits, it is now safe to enter the reactor core site..."
The final cleanup of the disaster-stricken nuclear power plant, which had been estimated to require hundreds of trillions of yen, had been accomplished by Agirakana in a matter of hours—free of charge.
Two days later, the Japanese Government conducted a radiation survey at the Nuclear Power Plant Site, confirmed the completion of decontamination, and convened an emergency cabinet meeting, during which the following decisions were made:
1) To formally recognize Agirakana as a sovereign nation.
2) Appoint Mr. Yamada Keiichi as Agirakana’s representative. (At this point, the official title and the correct spelling of Yamada Keiichi’s given name remained unknown.)
3) Grant Agirakana free use of government-owned land within Tokyo’s 23 wards, and approve the construction of an embassy. Specifically, negotiate with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to have the national government purchase Tokyo-owned land near Harumi Wharf and lease it to Agirakana. The Governor’s tacit approval had already been secured prior to the Cabinet meeting.
4) Grant Agirakana free use of the Nuclear Power Plant Site, and authorize the construction of a Fusion Power Plant on the site.
5) Loan Agirakana one trillion yen, interest-free and without a repayment deadline.
Of these Cabinet Decisions, those requiring legislative enactment were bypassed through committee review and directly submitted to the plenary sessions of both houses, where they were passed by majority vote. They were promptly published and enacted immediately upon publication.