Tokyo Electric Power Co. will use a truck-mounted filtration system to extract strontium from water stored at the damaged Fukushima No. 1 power plant as the utility struggles to overcome technical problems with its existing water-processing facility.
Tepco has signed a contract with Kurion Inc. to remove strontium from more than 340,000 metric tons of radioactive water stored at the wrecked plant using the mobile filtration system, the U.S.-based firm said in a statement Monday.
The system will be used to improve site safety while testing of the ALPS processing facility continues. ALPS is designed to remove strontium and 61 other isotopes from cooling and other water tainted by contact with the plant's melted fuel rods. Strontium has been linked to bone cancer.