Russian floating vessel ready to head for stricken Japan N-plant

MOSCOW, April 5 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian floating vessel, called
Landysh, on processing liquid radioactive waste (LRW) is ready to sail to
the stricken Japanese Fukushima-1 NPP, Itar-Tass learnt on Tuesday at the
Russian Atomic State Corporation (Rosatom).
The Landysh (Lily of the Valley) vessel which successfully fulfilled
its tasks in scrapping written-off nuclear submarines of the Russian navy
in the Far East, can be now quickly shifted to the area of the
Fukushima-1, say Russian nuclear specialists.
In the opinion of the crisis centre of the Rosatom Company on the
situation in Japan, "it could render efficient aid in purifying
radiation-polluted water, accumulated in stricken power units as a result
of emergency cooling of reactors". According to member of the crisis
centre and director of the communications department of Rosatom Sergei
Novikov, the Landysh is a fully independent complex, running without
supplies from the coast.
To ensure its round-the-clock operation, it has ship power plant,
consisting of four diesel generators, stocks of fuel and water, tanks for
LRW and for purified water as well as a container for temporary storage of
solid radioactive waste, received as a result of the vessel's operation.
Novikov emphasised that Russian nuclear specialists have rich
experience of building and operating such floating ships for storing and
partial processing LRW. Work on their construction started back in 1970s
by the Navashino shipyards in the northwest of the Soviet Union. These
vessels were mostly assigned to service nuclear icebreakers, operating in
the Arctic.
In the mid-1980s, the Vyborg shipyard built and handed over to the
Soviet navy two transports to receive LRW from Soviet nuclear submarines.
Rosatom believes that accumulated experience of designing and building
such boats in the Soviet Union permitted to implement successfully
international obligations of Russia in building the Landysh complex for
reception and purification LRW in scrapping ships and nuclear-powered
submarines in the Russian Far East.
The vessel is now anchored near the Zvezda shipyards in the Bolshoy
Kamen Bay. A decision on its construction was taken in 1993 to prevent
discharge of LRW into the Sea of Japan, which was actively opposed by the
authorities and the public at large of that country. Japan appropriated
funds to build this complex under the Global Partnership programme, which
taxed 35 million US dollars.
Rosatom noted that if the Japanese government decides to receive this
complex to work at the Fukushima-1 power plant, "the vessel and its crew
will work gratis as a charity aid to overcome aftermaths of the disaster
at this Japanese power plant".
"Japan helped us in resolving our problems with scrapping nuclear subs
and waste from them, now it is our turn to help Japan in this difficult
time after the quake and the tsunami," Novikov emphasised.
According to Tass dispatches from Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry
confirmed that the Japanese government discusses with the Russia side the
question on shifting the Landysh vessel from the Russian Far East to the
stricken Japanese nuclear plant, including technical details.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said in an interview with Tass that "no
decisions have been taken so far: we study the question on the shifting of
the Russian complex to Fukushima-1 after examining technical details".