Full-scale operation of key water treatment system may be delayed

TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo -
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Thursday that water was found leaking from a newly installed radioactive water treatment system during its trial run, hampering the firm's plan to fully operate it from Friday.
Optimal operation of the treatment system, which is designed to remove highly radioactive materials from a massive amount of water accumulating at the power station, is considered essential to containing the nuclear crisis as Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to eventually recycle the water to cool the plant's damaged reactors.
But the utility, known as TEPCO, will be forced to deal with the water leakage problem first, raising the possibility that full operation of the key facility to clean up contaminated water may be postponed until Saturday.
The treatment system is composed of installations developed by Kurion Inc. of the United States and France's Areva SA that remove radioactive materials such as cesium from contaminated water, as well as devices to eliminate oil and salt.
The utility said it has tested each component for the past few days and the installations of the two companies in combination were capable of reducing cesium in contaminated water to around a 100,000th of its original level. It hopes to process around 1,200 tons of highly radioactive water per day.
The contaminated water accumulating at reactor facilities, including coolant liquid leaking from reactors damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has been diverted to other parts of the plant to prevent it from overflowing at the facilities, but those locations are nearing full capacity.
On the same day that the key treatment system becomes operational across the board, the utility will release an updated version of its road map, unveiled in April, for containing the three-month-old nuclear crisis, a special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a press conference on Thursday.
But Goshi Hosono, also a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan tasked with handling the nuclear crisis, did not make any comment on whether the plant operator will change its broad time frame for stabilizing the troubled reactors by around January.
Meanwhile, TEPCO said Thursday it plans to open the doors of the No. 2 reactor building to reduce internal humidity, with the aim of improving the working environment.
The utility said it will open the doors after it gains approval from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and will go ahead with preparations for cooling the reactor by taking steps such as adjusting its pressure and water-level gauges as well as setting up pipes to inject nitrogen into the vessel to avoid a hydrogen explosion.
As TEPCO began operating ventilation equipment at the building last Saturday, the amount of radioactive materials that could be released to the outside atmosphere after the doors open would not reach a level that affects the environment, company officials said.
The radiation level in the No. 2 reactor building has been declining but humidity has reached as high as 99.9 percent.