Tepco is planning a test run of a reverse osmosis system that desalinates water in the Fukushima Daiichi unit 4 spent fuel pool. The system will reduce the risks of corrosion of the stainless steel pool liner after seawater was poured in it (and in the unit 2 and unit 3 spent fuel pools) for cooling.
The system takes water (about 3t/hr) from the alternative spent fuel pool cooling system (after cooling) and runs it to equipment mounted on five trucks. Tepco expects that desalination will take about two months.
Tepco said that it would also treat unit 2 and unit 3 spent fuel pool water, but began with unit 4 because of lower radiological contamination. Provided the test goes well, Tepco will start the system up on 20 August.
An earthquake measuring magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale struck offshore of Fukushima province on 19 August. Following the earthquake, Tepco reported no abnormalities in each unit's major parameters, nor outside power supply, reactor water and nitrogen injection and spent fuel pool water injection.
In other news – Tepco has reported that it has finished pumping out flooded water from the unit 6 turbine hall, although units 5 and 6 were less affected by flooding than other buildings on site. Pumping out of the unit 2 and 3 turbine halls continues.
Also, the second caesium decontamination line ('SARRY') in the water treatment system has begun full-scale operation. Tepco has estimated its decontamination factor as on the order of 10 000x. Full operational volume was 50t/hr.
Regular updates may be found on the website of our sister journal, Nuclear Engineering International, reachable on <www.neimagazine.com> or by clicking on the link in the navigation bar to the left of this page.
The following sites are also posting continuing updates:
<http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html>
<http://www.iaea.org/>
<http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/>
<http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/15/tepco-reactor-status/>
<http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/>
<http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html>
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