Japan cleaning nuclear runoff water

TOKYO: Emergency crew at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Friday planned to start decontaminating highly radioactive runoff water from months of reactor cooling operations.

Embattled operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the system, which employs US and French technology, would go fully operational by the evening after a water leak during a test run the previous night had been fixed.

The operation kicks off more than three months since a 9.0 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that smashed into the plant. The wave knocked out reactor cooling systems, which sparked meltdowns, explosions and radiation leaks.

The world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 has caused radioactive material to spew into the air, ground and sea and forced the evacuation of 80,000 people in a 20 kilometre (12 mile) radius.

Japan's government has said it will soon extend the evacuation zone to take in more towns considered radiation "hot-spots", but officials have not yet specified when and from where people would be told to move.

Inside the charred plant, workers have pumped water into reactor cores and fuel rod pools, leaving more than 100,000 tons of contaminated water in basements, drains and ditches, some of which has leaked into the ocean.

With little additional space left for more water, and the rainy season threatening to add to the volume, TEPCO is racing against time to start the decontamination system and prevent new leaks into the Pacific Ocean.

The system is designed to remove caesium and other radioactive materials as well as oil and sea salt from about 1,200 tons of water a day, using equipment from France's Areva and Kurion of the United States.

The water must be decontaminated before it can be stored or recycled through the reactors. Removing the highly radioactive water would then allow workers to start longer-term repair work.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011