ShareThe ice wall ready to go into service at Fukushima
In Japan, the huge ice wall installed to stop groundwater pollution at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant is going to be activated.
In Japan, the huge ice wall installed to stop groundwater pollution at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant is going to be activated.
In September 2013, Japan’s government gave the go ahead on a project to create a mile-long artificial permafrost barrier around the Fukushima power station to stop radioactive water from leaking (see IIR News “An ice barrier to stop radioactive water leaks at Fukushima”)
The three reactors, damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, have to be continually cooled with water to prevent their cores overheating. The cooling water, which becomes radioactive, leaks out of the damaged reactors, mixes with groundwater and increases the amount of contaminated water. The ice wall is designed to contain radioactive water that is leaking from cracks in the basement of the reactor units.
Completed last month, the plant’s operator, Japanese utility TEPCO, is ready to activate the first stage of this ice wall project.
The USD 312m government-funded project consists of 26.4 m tubes inserted into the ground at 1m intervals. Glycol at -30ºC will be circulated through the tubes to create a 2 m thick, 30 m deep and 1.5 km long ice wall that will box in the four reactor buildings and the flow of groundwater.
If it works as expected, ground water inflow will be reduced by 50 %.
The decommissioning of the Fukushima plant is expected to take decades.
In September 2013, Japan’s government gave the go ahead on a project to create a mile-long artificial permafrost barrier around the Fukushima power station to stop radioactive water from leaking (see IIR News “An ice barrier to stop radioactive water leaks at Fukushima”)
The three reactors, damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, have to be continually cooled with water to prevent their cores overheating. The cooling water, which becomes radioactive, leaks out of the damaged reactors, mixes with groundwater and increases the amount of contaminated water. The ice wall is designed to contain radioactive water that is leaking from cracks in the basement of the reactor units.
Completed last month, the plant’s operator, Japanese utility TEPCO, is ready to activate the first stage of this ice wall project.
The USD 312m government-funded project consists of 26.4 m tubes inserted into the ground at 1m intervals. Glycol at -30ºC will be circulated through the tubes to create a 2 m thick, 30 m deep and 1.5 km long ice wall that will box in the four reactor buildings and the flow of groundwater.
If it works as expected, ground water inflow will be reduced by 50 %.
The decommissioning of the Fukushima plant is expected to take decades.