Radioactive
tritium removed from water by Kindai University team, raising hopes for
Fukushima cleanup
A team of researchers at Kindai University and other
collaborators has succeeded in removing the radioactive substance tritium from
water, raising hopes of fully decontaminating the tainted water stored at the
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Tritiated water is said to be difficult to separate from
ordinary water as the two substances have similar chemical properties.
Tatsuhiko Ihara, a professor in the Faculty of Engineering
at Kindai’s Hiroshima campus, and others used processed aluminum powder to
develop a filter that has numerous superfine pores with diameters of 5
nanometers or less, the university announced. One nanometer is equal to 1
billionth of a meter.
After putting water contaminated with radioactive
materials, including tritium, through the filter, only tritiated water was
caught in the pores, making it possible to separate the substance in a highly
efficient manner, according to the team. The tritiated water can then be
removed from the filter by heating it so the device can be reused, thus keeping
costs down.
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Source: The Japan Times