On 19 April TEPCO began pumping high-level radioactive water from the basement of the Fukushima Daiichi unit 2 turbine building to the centralised radiation waste treatment facility.
The process of pumping the water out, which was discovered in late March, was delayed to allow for several operations: the purging of 10,000 tons of low-level waste already in the facility, into the sea; inspection of the store building for cracks; installation of leakage barriers including silt fences, steel panels and caesium-absorbing zeolite sandbags in the unit 1-4 water intake and outflow area; and government approval of the plans. The TEPCO report to the government included the necessity of the operation, a safety assessment, and plans for permanent water storage and treatment facilities.
According to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, the unit 2 basement and external tunnel alone contains 25,000 tons of water. Transferring just 10,000 tons of it is expected to take 26 days.
Also, following surveys of units 1 and 3, a remote-controlled robot entered and surveyed the unit 2 reactor building.
