The construction of an “ice wall” around Fukushima has a sci-fi tinge to it — but it’s far from the first experimental measure used to avert environmental catastrophe. Neither is freezing the soil itself new. The technique has been used in mines and tunnels for over a hundred years.
There have been some decidedly extreme environmental disasters in the last two decades. None of them have required a response on par with The Core — the 2003 movie starring Hilary Swank in which a team sets off nuclear devices deep in the earth in order to restart the planet’s rotation — but they have demanded hastily improvised responses. Some worked, some didn’t. We chose five.