Moscow, April 05: After seeking help from France and the US, Japan has now asked Russia to send a floating radiation treatment plant to solidify contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Japan asked Russia to send Suzuran, one of the world’s largest liquid radioactive waste treatment plants, to tackle the problem at the tsunami-hit nuclear power plant, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The Suzuran which has been used to decommission Russian submarines in the nearby port city of Vladivostock, treats radioactive liquid with chemicals and stores it in a cement form.
It can process 35 cubic meters of liquid waste a day and 7,000 cubic meters a year, the report added.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the operator of the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, has started releasing 11,500 metric tons of low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.
TEPCO will continue to release radioactive water into the sea until Friday. Engineers also plan to build two giant “silt curtains” made of polyester fabric in the sea to block the spread of more contamination from the plant.
France has sent two experts from the state-run nuclear sector and the US has sent robots to help examine reactor cores and spent fuel pools.
More than three weeks after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami hit northeast Japan and damaged the plant, engineers are no closer to regaining control of the facility or stopping radioactive leaks.
A total of 12,087 people were confirmed dead by Japan’s National Police Agency, while 15,552 are missing.
Estimated cost of damage is to top $300 billion, making it the world’s costliest natural disaster.
The 1995 Kobe quake cost $100 billion while Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused $81 billion in damage.
——–Agencies