ID :
196877
Sun, 07/24/2011 - 17:18
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/196877
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U.S., Japan to jointly study new technology to decontaminate large areas
TOKYO, July 24 Kyodo - The United States and Japan will work together in researching new technology to remove radioactive materials from large areas around the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a visiting senior U.S. official said Sunday.
As thousands of square kilometers require decontamination before evacuated people can return home, an ''extremely expensive'' task, research is needed to do so efficiently, effectively and economically, John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, said in an interview with Kyodo News.
Holdren, who visited the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant on Saturday, the highest U.S. official to have done so since the crisis erupted in March, said he discussed the matter as ''one of the areas of further cooperative research'' with Japanese officials during his visit to the country.
The U.S. guidelines require areas deserted in the event of a nuclear accident when people may be exposed to 20 millisieverts or more of radiation a year in the first year and 5 millisieverts from the second year.
Under these guidelines, 1,000 sq. km from the Fukushima plant could not be reoccupied in the first year and several thousand sq. km from the second year with more stringent criteria applied, according to him.
He also said, citing the view of Japanese officials that it would take 10 years ''before fuel can finally be removed from the reactors,'' that operations to stabilize the plant should be robust and resilient against further natural disasters, such as by making water decontamination facilities resistant to earthquakes and tsunamis.
Holdren described as ''very good'' Tokyo Electric's road map to bring the crisis under control through a cold shutdown of the plant's troubled reactors in three to six months, with work to remove spent fuel from storage pools starting in about three years.
''They still have big challenges ahead, particularly in water decontamination and bringing the reactors to a full cold shutdown. But I am optimistic,'' he said.
As thousands of square kilometers require decontamination before evacuated people can return home, an ''extremely expensive'' task, research is needed to do so efficiently, effectively and economically, John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, said in an interview with Kyodo News.
Holdren, who visited the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant on Saturday, the highest U.S. official to have done so since the crisis erupted in March, said he discussed the matter as ''one of the areas of further cooperative research'' with Japanese officials during his visit to the country.
The U.S. guidelines require areas deserted in the event of a nuclear accident when people may be exposed to 20 millisieverts or more of radiation a year in the first year and 5 millisieverts from the second year.
Under these guidelines, 1,000 sq. km from the Fukushima plant could not be reoccupied in the first year and several thousand sq. km from the second year with more stringent criteria applied, according to him.
He also said, citing the view of Japanese officials that it would take 10 years ''before fuel can finally be removed from the reactors,'' that operations to stabilize the plant should be robust and resilient against further natural disasters, such as by making water decontamination facilities resistant to earthquakes and tsunamis.
Holdren described as ''very good'' Tokyo Electric's road map to bring the crisis under control through a cold shutdown of the plant's troubled reactors in three to six months, with work to remove spent fuel from storage pools starting in about three years.
''They still have big challenges ahead, particularly in water decontamination and bringing the reactors to a full cold shutdown. But I am optimistic,'' he said.
