Toshiba Corp. is loading up a mobile decontamination service for radioactive soil and water that can service municipalities in the Tohoku region, where the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, and the neighboring Kanto region.
Toshiba Corp. is loading up a mobile decontamination service for radioactive soil and water that can service municipalities in the Tohoku region, where the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, and the neighboring Kanto region.
Toshiba unveiled the decontamination devices on Dec. 26. The device for soil can be transported in containers by truck.
The estimated service charge will be several million yen a day. The new device for soil decontamination separates radioactive cesium by injecting oxalic acid into contaminated soil, resulting in the elimination of the substance by 97 percent after washing. The decontaminated soil should be safe enough to be used for schoolyards and other public sites, Toshiba said.
The equipment, which can be loaded in two containers, can decontaminate 1.7 tons of soil a day, according to the maker.
Toshiba’s transportable equipment to purify contaminated water, about the size of one container, can decontaminate an amount equivalent to an elementary school’s pool to levels that would make it safe for drinking.
The equipment can be used to treat water that has been discharged in the decontamination of houses and buildings, as well as purifying agriculture-use water in storage reservoirs.
With the Dec. 16 announcement by the government of Yoshihiko Noda that the crisis at the plant has been brought under control, decontamination will also likely be done around areas close to the plant where high concentration levels of radiation have been recorded.
“It is important to collect radioactive substances in relatively small amounts (at each location) as opposed to letting them disperse, so that we can properly keep them under control,” said Mamoru Hatazawa, division manager of Toshiba's nuclear power Fukushima restoration technology. “We took pains to ensure the decontamination work can be completed on the site.”