Water treatment system at Fukushima plant achieves decontamination+

Water treatment system at Fukushima plant achieves decontamination+

TOKYO, June 24 Kyodo -
The glitch-plagued water decontamination system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex has been able to lower the concentration of radioactive substances in highly contaminated water to the targeted level, the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday.
The successful trial run of the water treatment system paves the way for the start, possibly by the end of June, of operations to cool the damaged nuclear power reactors using water recycled in the decontamination system to establish a circulating cooling system as part of efforts to contain the crisis triggered by the earthquake and tsunami in March.
The utility known as TEPCO said the level of both radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137 in the toxic water had dropped to one hundred-thousandth, achieving the target of 100 becquerels per cubic centimeter or less.
The treated water was sent to a desalination device which TEPCO started operating Friday.
The decontamination system comprising equipment from France's Areva SA and Kurion Inc. of the United States is designed to remove radioactive materials from massive amounts of highly contaminated water accumulating at the power station.
The contaminated water, which includes leaking coolant liquid injected from outside, has prevented TEPCO from starting work to restore the reactors' cooling functions.
TEPCO, meanwhile, suspended its operation using a robot to install a water gauge in the basement of the plant's No. 2 reactor to monitor the depth of highly contaminated water accumulating there.
The Japanese-made robot called ''Quince'' could not reel out a cable attached to the water gauge, and the path to the basement was too narrow for the remote-controlled machine to maneuver, TEPCO said.
==Kyodo
2011-06-24 23:57:24