Exporting Soil Restoration Equipment to Fukushima

KEPCO NF, a company specialized in nuclear fuel design and production, signed a contract with the Japanese Nuclear Decontamination Company RDS to supply it equipment to deal with polluted soil drainage. On August 5, KEPCO NF announced it will produce and export a total of 10 installations.

KEPCO NF will be in charge of producing, supplying, and maintaining the equipment used around the Fukushima Nuclear Plant for the drainage decontamination process, as well as supporting operational technologies for the installations. 

The exported decontamination equipment gets rid of soil polluted with radioactive substances deposited in street drains, which is one of the main causes of water contamination of nearby streams and lakes. Then, it uses a sinking substance to extract the radioactive substances existing in the soil and return about 80% of the decontaminated water and soil back to where it belongs.

Also, KEPCO NF will team up with domestic small and mid-size companies through a nationally-sponsored research and development assignment to develop and provide decontamination technology to safely manage and dispose of the polluted sludge caused by the 20% cesium created in the process of decontamination. 

KEPCO NF is planning on registering patents for the decontamination technology and equipment both domestically and internationally. 

CEO Kim Ki-hak of KEPCO NF said, “Exporting decontamination equipment was possible due to our accumulated technology of decontaminating and disposing of nuclear waste,” and added, “Since the global market may have endless demand, we are paying more attention to further developing the decontamination technology as well as improving the equipment to contribute even more to the global nuclear dissolution market.”