Tokyo, Moscow looking at using Russian nuclear waste treatment ship

TOKYO, April 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Japan's government is squaring with
Moscow the use of the Landysh ship equipped with a liquid nuclear waste treatment unit in clear-up operations at the trouble Fukushima-1 nuclear plant, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. The ship was brought to Russia from Japan some time ago.
"We are considering the issue, including technical details, with the Russian side," the official said. "So far, however, no decision has been reached. We shall look at the use of the Landysh and its secondment to Fukushima-1 after technical details are considered."
On Monday, Sergei Novikov, the director of public relations department of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, told journalists that Japan had asked to look at possible use of this ship in clear-up operations at the Fukushima-1 plant. "If the Japanese side is satisfied with the unit's technical characteristics, it might be promptly sent to the Fukushuma-1 area," he said.
The Landysh ship was built in 2001 to treat liquid nuclear waste from Russian scrap submarines. The financing came from Japan. The ship's nuclear waste treatment unit is capable of disposing of up to 70 tons of waste a day. The ship is currently staying at the Zvezda shipyards in the town of Bolshoi Kamen in Russia's Far Eastern Primorsky territory.
According to experts, the ship can be used to treat radiation polluted water in a number of Fukushima's auxiliary premises and its drainage system.