A facility was completed Dec. 21 at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant for storing radioactive waste containing cesium that had been discharged in the treatment of contaminated water.
A facility was completed Dec. 21 at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant for storing radioactive waste containing cesium that had been discharged in the treatment of contaminated water.
The 210-meter-long site was surrounded by 1- to 2- meter-high sandbagged bunkers to help prevent possible radiation leaks.
U.S. company Kurion Inc.'s contaminated water treatment system and a similar cesium absorption machine made by Toshiba called SARRY require the use of several cylindrical containers each week to store contaminated waste as the radiation levels of the containers rise to significant levels.
With the plant's storage space expected to fill up early in the New Year, TEPCO built a new storage facility to the south of the existing facility. The new storage site can hold a maximum of 744 containers.
The utility started moving containers from a temporary storage area to the new facility Dec. 21.