Workers prepare water decontamination system at Fukushima nuke plant
Jun. 6, 2011
Workers on Sunday began checking the operation of devices that will be part of a system to decontaminate water containing radioactive substances at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, with the aim of activating the system in mid-June, officials of the plant operator said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant that was badly damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is building the system to deal with the massive amounts of highly contaminated water at the plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
The system, set up at a facility where such water from the Nos. 2 and 3 units has been transferred, is expected to be able to treat about 1,200 tons per day, reducing the concentrations of radioactive substances to between around one-thousandth and one-ten thousandth.
It includes an oil separator to remove oil, a device to absorb radioactive cesium, decontamination equipment for cesium and strontium, and a desalination apparatus, according to the officials. Some of the devices were made with technical cooperation from Kurion Inc. of the United States and Areva SA of France.
Workers held trial runs of the devices Sunday and the equipment will be tested further to make sure it all operates properly, the officials said.
As key cooling functions at the plant were lost after it was hit by the March disaster, the Nos. 1 to 4 units at the six-reactor plant have needed injections of water from outside to prevent the nuclear fuel inside from overheating.
But vast pools of water containing large amounts of radioactive substances have since been found at the plant's premises as a side effect of the water-injection measure. Such contaminated water has hampered work to restore the plant.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 5, 2011)
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant that was badly damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is building the system to deal with the massive amounts of highly contaminated water at the plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
The system, set up at a facility where such water from the Nos. 2 and 3 units has been transferred, is expected to be able to treat about 1,200 tons per day, reducing the concentrations of radioactive substances to between around one-thousandth and one-ten thousandth.
It includes an oil separator to remove oil, a device to absorb radioactive cesium, decontamination equipment for cesium and strontium, and a desalination apparatus, according to the officials. Some of the devices were made with technical cooperation from Kurion Inc. of the United States and Areva SA of France.
Workers held trial runs of the devices Sunday and the equipment will be tested further to make sure it all operates properly, the officials said.
As key cooling functions at the plant were lost after it was hit by the March disaster, the Nos. 1 to 4 units at the six-reactor plant have needed injections of water from outside to prevent the nuclear fuel inside from overheating.
But vast pools of water containing large amounts of radioactive substances have since been found at the plant's premises as a side effect of the water-injection measure. Such contaminated water has hampered work to restore the plant.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 5, 2011)
