Tokyo Electric Power Company is under pressure to make sure that its plan to install "frozen walls" to halt the flow of radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant actually works.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is under pressure to make sure that its plan to install "frozen walls" to halt the flow of radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant actually works.Officials of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, expressed their concern at a meeting on Monday.TEPCO began work in April to create a wall of ice between the basement of the No.2 reactor building and its utility tunnel.The idea was to prevent highly radioactive water in the reactor building from flowing into the tunnel, where the runoff could become mixed with groundwater and end up in the sea.The wall of ice was supposed to be in place in May, but the structure remains incomplete.TEPCO officials told the NRA that currents in the water in the tunnel are preventing it from freezing, and that they'll have to put off pumping out radioactive water from the tunnel for about 3 months.NRA officials urged the utility to come up with concrete measures by the end of July to complete the ice wall.NRA officials also expressed concern that similar problems may hamper the freezing of soil around 4 reactor buildings at the plant. The massive underground wall is supposed to prevent groundwater from flowing into the buildings.

Jul. 8, 2014 - Updated 03:43