Plastic pad clogs up Fukushima N-plant water cleaning system
30 Sep 2013 11:27 PM GMT
A piece of plastic padding, which clogged up a drain is thought to have caused the breakdown of a decontamination system at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the operator said on Sunday.
The Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), designed to remove radioactive material from contaminated water, is expected to play a crucial role in treating huge amounts of toxic water accumulating at the plant.
But it was halted due to a defect only hours after starting operations. Workers found that a plastic pad, which fixed a ladder in the system, had worked loose and got stuck in a drain, probably causing the defect, said operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. The ALPS system was switched on early Friday but was stopped late evening the same day when it was found not to be properly flushing fluid used to remove radioactive particles, TEPCO said in a statement. There are three ALPS systems at the plant, hit by reactor meltdowns sparked by the March 2011 quake and tsunami.
The Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), designed to remove radioactive material from contaminated water, is expected to play a crucial role in treating huge amounts of toxic water accumulating at the plant.
But it was halted due to a defect only hours after starting operations. Workers found that a plastic pad, which fixed a ladder in the system, had worked loose and got stuck in a drain, probably causing the defect, said operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. The ALPS system was switched on early Friday but was stopped late evening the same day when it was found not to be properly flushing fluid used to remove radioactive particles, TEPCO said in a statement. There are three ALPS systems at the plant, hit by reactor meltdowns sparked by the March 2011 quake and tsunami.
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