The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) moved forward this week with Plan B for containing and removing radioactive water that is believed to be polluting ground water on the sea side of the stricken plant, as it escapes the facility through underground trenches, The Japan Times reported.
TEPCO tried to freeze the water between turbine buildings and the trenches to stop the flow, so they could extract the contaminated water before it escaped, the Times said. But that strategy proved ineffective, as the water did not freeze fully and efforts failed to arrest the flow.
The new plan is to fill the trenches with concrete. On Tuesday, workers spent two and a half hours in their first efforts at pouring cement at reactor 2's trench in a project that is expected to last through March of 2015.
TEPCO estimates the cable trenches are holding 11,000 tons of radioactive water.
Workers poured about 80 cubic meters (2,825 cubic feet) of cement on Tuesday, while pumping water from the trench simultaneously, the newspaper said.
TEPCO expects injecting cement into the trench that exits the reactor 3 turbine building will commence in December. The company expects that project to also be completed by the end of March.