The Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which exploded during the 2011 earthquake. Taken in March 2016. yunhap newsNHK reported on the 26th that it is possible that part of the so-called ‘freezing earth wall’, which blocks the inflow of groundwater by freezing the ground around the reactor building of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, has melted, NHK reported on the 26th.
According to NHK, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is considering countermeasures against the possibility that a part of the frozen soil wall may have melted due to groundwater gushing up near the nuclear power plant.
The frozen soil wall is a part of measures to reduce polluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
It is a structure that prevents groundwater from flowing into the nuclear power plant building by laying a pipe around the nuclear power plant building and injecting a liquid at minus 30 degrees Celsius into the pipe to create a frozen soil wall.
TEPCO is measuring the temperature by installing a thermometer on the frozen soil wall. In some areas close to nuclear power plant No. 4, the temperature has exceeded 0 degrees Celsius since mid-September and rose to 13.4 degrees on the 18th of this month.
When TEPCO dug up the frozen soil wall in the area, water was found where it should have been frozen, raising the possibility that part of the frozen soil wall may have melted.
Accordingly, TEPCO has decided to start the installation of steel pipes and plates as early as next month and consider future measures.
TEPCO said, “There is no change in the water level inside the frozen soil wall near the nuclear power plant,” and “the function of the frozen soil wall is maintained overall.”
