Engineers assembling an emergency water treatment system at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant faced setbacks over the weekend that will delay its operation for several days.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said Sunday that leaks and a valve malfunction have forced a halt to tests of the filtration system. TEPCO had hoped to finish testing and put the system into operation on Wednesday. Company spokesmen quoted by the Wall Street Journal now say they expect the system will not be fully functional until after Friday.
Areva, with the help of Veolia Water, is engineering the system to desalinate and remove radioactive contaminants from an estimated 105,100 metric tons of water accumulated in the buildings of three reactors damaged following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Water levels in basements have risen to near ground level as crews douse reactors and spent-fuel tanks. The flooding represents a significant hurdle to fixing safety systems and preventing further release of radioactive contaminants.