TEMPO.CO, Tokyo - The Japanese government announced yesterday, Tuesday, September 3, 2013, it would build an ice wall under the Daichii nuclear reactor in Fukushima. The government said it would earmark around 47 billion yen or equal to Rp5.3 trillion from its state budget to stop the leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor.
Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe said the government took the initiative to intervene in the issue following mounting concerns from the international community. The International Atomic Energy Agency and neighboring countries said nuclear reactor operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) was incapable of addressing the problem, which posed a threat to the environment.
“The world is watching if we can properly handle the contaminated water but also the entire decommissioning of the plant,” Abe told a meeting with a Japanese nuclear disaster mitigation team.
The ice wall would freeze the ground to a depth of up to 30 meters through an electrical system of thin pipes carrying a coolant as cold as minus 40 degrees Celsius. The Japanese government and scientists hoped the ice wall would block contaminated water from escaping the facility’s surroundings and keep underground water from entering the reactor and turbine buildings.
Japanese construction giant Kajima Corp. is testing test the feasibility of this project, which will set for completion by March 2015.
L CHANNEL NEWSASIA | REUTERS | AP | SITA PLANASARI AQUADINI
