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New system of radioactive water treatment put into operation at Fukushima Daiichi NPP

By filtering the water at the additional facility first, the utility hopes to reduce the risk of water containing high levels of strontium leaking from the storage tanks and seeping into the sea

TOKYO, October 3. /TASS/. A new radioactive water treatment system has been put into operation at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the NPP operator — Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Friday.

The new mobile system’s daily capacity is enough to purify up to 300 tons of liquid from 60 kinds of radioactive particles. The system is capable of reducing the level of strontium by up to 0.1%, according to TEPCO, the Kyodo news agency reports. Even after the strontium has been removed, the contaminated water still needs to be processed through another water treatment facility at the plant that is capable of removing some 60 types of radioactive materials.

The radioactive water is one of the main problems the NPP accident aftermath liquidators are facing. By filtering the water at the additional facility first, the utility hopes to reduce the risk of water containing high levels of strontium leaking from the storage tanks and seeping into the sea, according to Kyodo.

A Tokyo Electric official said he hopes the new facility will “contribute to drastically reducing the risks of radioactive water.”

At the crippled plant, an estimated 400 tons of groundwater is seeping into the basement of the plant every day, causing the amount of tainted water to further increase. Some 400,000 tons of toxic water that needs to be treated is stored in tanks, the agency said.