TOKYO – Japan’s embattled Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on Sunday presented a timeline for stabilising its tsunami-hit and radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Five weeks after a quake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems of four of its six reactors, TEPCO said it hopes to reduce radiation leaking from the plant in three months and achieve “cold shutdowns” of reactors within six to nine months.
The operator said its ultimate goal is “to enable evacuating residents to return and to secure the safety of Japanese citizens”. Here are the main aims listed in the roadmap:
— WITHIN THREE MONTHS – BY JULY
— Achieve stable reactor cooling by fully submerging fuel rods in water, injecting nitrogen and setting up heat-exchange equipment
— Seal the leaking reactor two while carefully injecting water, to avoid more runoff of highly contaminated water in turbine building and shafts
— Cool spent fuel rod pools and build a support column below the reactor four pool, where the outer building has been damaged by fire
— Contain or recycle radioactive water to stop leaks into the environment, and build new facilities for storage and reprocessing
— Stop aerial spread of radioactive particles by spraying resin on the ground, removing rubble and starting to cover reactor buildings with special fabric
— Reduce radiation and expand monitoring in evacuation zone; disclose data quickly
— WITHIN SIX TO NINE MONTHS – BY OCTOBER 2011 TO JANUARY 2012
— Achieve and maintain “cold shutdown” of all reactors, the state in which temperature and pressure drops and radiation falls dramatically
— Keep spent fuel rods stably submerged in containment pools, remotely control water injection and set up heat-exchange equipment
— Secure storage space for highly contaminated water, and reprocess and recycle less radioactive water with new treatment methods
— Contain air and soil contamination by covering entire reactor buildings one, three and four with special fabric
— Keep monitoring radiation levels in evacuation zone
— IN THE LONGER TERM
— Build new, fully-fledged water reprocessing facility
— Prevent structures from decaying due to chloride damage
— Safely remove fuel rods from all reactors and storage pools
— Seal the plant completely, with such materials as concrete, and solidify radioactive soil to remove it from the site for decontamination
