The possibility has been raised that a part of the ‘freeze wall’ (ice wall) that prevents groundwater from flowing into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan may have melted.
Today (26th) NHK reported that there is a possibility that part of the frozen soil wall of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have melted.
The frozen soil wall was installed to cope with the situation in which groundwater flows into the severely damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, increasing by hundreds of tons of contaminated water every day.
It is a structure that prevents groundwater from flowing into the nuclear power plant building by injecting a minus 30 degree liquid around the nuclear power plant building to create a frozen soil wall.
TEPCO installed a thermometer on the frozen soil wall to measure the underground temperature, and said that in some areas around the nuclear power plant unit 4, it exceeded 0 degrees in mid-September, and on the 18th it rose to 13.4 degrees.
When TEPCO dug the frozen soil wall in the area, water was found where it should have been frozen.
TEPCO said, “There is no change in the water level inside the frozen earth wall close to the nuclear power plant building, and the function of the frozen earth wall is maintained overall.” said.
