Tokyo Electric Power Co. is installing six ventilators designed to lower radiation levels and allow for work inside a contaminated reactor building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. is installing six ventilators designed to lower radiation levels and allow for work inside a contaminated reactor building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The ventilators are due to be installed in the turbine building next to the No. 1 reactor building and will run for several days.
TEPCO then plans to begin work inside the building to eventually bring the troubled reactor to a cold shutdown.
The ventilators are expected to take in air from the reactor building through pipes and absorb dirt and dust laden with radioactive substances on their filters.
The utility plans to build a small chamber inside the turbine building in front of the ventilators by May 5.
The small chamber is called a "positive pressure house," where the pressure is kept high to prevent contaminated air inside the No. 1 reactor building from leaking outside.
The house, comprising a steel frame and plywood boards, is easy to build, according to TEPCO.
Workers with oxygen tanks will install the ventilation pipes inside the No. 1 reactor building, TEPCO said.
The power company said a similar ventilation plan is being formulated for the No. 2 reactor building. However, measures to reduce the humidity will be needed because the level inside the No. 2 reactor building has surpassed 90 percent.