Japan weighs use of Russian radioactive disposal facility
TOKYO, April 5, Kyodo
The government is studying the possibility of borrowing a Japan-funded radioactive waste disposal facility from Russia to help contain the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a nuclear safety agency official said Tuesday.
''We are checking whether it is technically possible to use the facility for this current event, and whether the facility's machines are working smoothly,'' Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told a press conference.
He also said Japan has been already communicating with Russia over the possible use of the floating facility, called Suzuran, which Japan gave to Russia in 2001 to help dispose of low-level radioactive liquid waste safely from decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines.
The remarks came as Tokyo is struggling to handle a massive amount of water containing low and high-level radioactive substances found in the nuclear power plant's premises and also leaking into the Pacific Ocean near the plant.
Japan gave the facility to Russia as environmental concerns were raised after Russia dumped radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan in 1993 in the process of dismantling its nuclear subs.
==Kyodo
Foating radioactive disposal facility "
Landysh" (Suzuran)
Designed by
Coral Central Design Bureau under request of
RosAtom state corporation.
USD 30 million was funded by the Government of Japan (overall price of design and building)
Type of ship : towed boat (barge)
Length - 65 meters
Beam - 23, 4 meters
Tank volume - 800 cubic meters
Work capability - 7 000 cubic meters of low-level radioactive liquid waste per year.