Japan will build ice wall to prevent leaks of nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture

In March, the Japanese Government announced a plan of €344,6 million for the construction of a giant wall of ice, hoping to contain the radiation from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Now, the bizarre project received the green light and the construction is expected to begin soon.

Although the project may seem like a joke and analogies with the series Game of Thornes more than evident, the Japanese project has its differences from the saga. The proposed wall will be built underground, where engineers will freeze the soil under the Fukushima nuclear plant, in an attempt to prevent radiation leaks that are contaminating the soil and water.

The authority for Nuclear Regulation indicates that construction should start in July and will begin with the blocking of groundwater from nearby hillsides, referred to Inhabitat. These waters have drained into the basement of the central and has mixed with contaminated water with radiation, which were used to cool the reactors after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.

Subsequently, the water will circulate in a special refrigerator in order to create a great wall of 1.5 kilometres which will contain the entry of groundwater. Although the project has been approved, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will have to review other parts of the project if there is danger to existing structures, such as the underground drainage systems.

Although scientists assert that the project might work, nothing has been built on this scale previously, especially in the temporal period proposed. If the ice wall works and contains the radiation leaks, TEPCO can continue to dismantle the central Fukishima, an operation that can take several decades. The area surrounding the power plant still off-limits due to high levels of radiation.

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