Japan: Switches equipment to treat high-concentration radioactive water

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on June 12 said that part of the high-concentration radioactive water treatment system is blocked so that the water doesn't flow. This system is currently in the testing phase before testing.

>> Japan blocks the leak of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean

Close up of contaminated water treatment tanks with Ceasium osmosis devices. (Source: Cao Phong / Vietnam + ).

It is expected that this highly contaminated water treatment system will officially operate on June 15. However, with recent problems, TEPCO is more likely to reconsider this deadline. The original cause was confirmed by TEPCO because of the valve's abnormal opening and the company is urgently fixing the problem.

TEPCO has discovered an unusual point in the pump operation program and found that radioactive water leaks from the connections of the pipe inside the system. Due to the focus on dealing with this new issue, TEPCO has not yet begun to be able to start trial operation before going into use.

The part that TEPCO discovered was a major instability problem of the Ceasium osmosis device in contaminated water made by Kurion (USA). On the evening of June 11, while trying to put seawater into the device, one of the four systems did not see water coming in.

After the inspection on May 12, experts confirmed the cause was due to the abnormality of the automatic shut-off valve. Therefore, TEPCO has checked whether there is any problem with the device's operation control software.

The repair of 48 piping position connections has the risk of leaking and patching the pump control program completed on June 12.