TEPCO sends water cannon to Kashiwasaki-Kariwa

Members of the Fukushima No. 1 firefighting squad aim water toward reactor buildings during a drill in March. | KYODO / POOL

July 9, 2015

TEPCO sending water cannon to Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in case of disaste

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/07/10/national/tepco-sending-water-cannon-kashiwazaki-kariwa-nuclear-plant-case-disaster/#.VaOi7fnwmic

JIJI

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday it will deploy large-capacity water cannon systems at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in central Japan with the aim of preventing the diffusion of radioactive materials in case of a disaster.

Five sets of the system comprising a pumper and a water cannon that can flush 1,200 tons of water per hour will be sent to the plant in Niigata Prefecture later this month. The system will be deployed to contain radioactive materials inside the plant in the event of a nuclear accident.

The system can also be used to extinguish a fire caused by an airplane crash.

At the company’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the disaster there blanketed much of the prefecture with radioactive fallout on March 15, 2011, four days after the plant was crippled by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.

In the event of such a disaster at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the largest nuclear power station in the world, Tepco would spray a large amount of water to limit radioactive contamination to the areas around the reactor buildings.

The power utility plans to install an underwater curtain, known as silt fence, at drains to prevent an inflow into the ocean of tainted water pooled around reactor buildings. But it will be impossible to completely block such an inflow, according to Tepco.

Tadayuki Yokomura, manager of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, said expert instruction would be needed to enable Tepco workers to use the water cannons effectively amid the chaos ensuing from high radiation levels in the air at the plant.

The new systems will replace existing aerial platform fire trucks and concrete-pumping trucks. The Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority is conducting a safety screening of the plant with a view to its possible restart. Tepco is slated to report to the NRA the change of its water-spraying systems.