China on Tuesday rushed a heavy duty truck fitted with a 62-meter high snorkel and a pump to directly shower water into the damaged reactors of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The snorkel one of the longest in the world was being shipped to Osaka port, the nearest port to Fukushima plant from Shanghai tomorrow morning, CCTV reported.
It is being sent at the request of Japan.
The ship carrying the snorkel truck was expected to reach Osaka port by Wednesday and from there it would immediately be sent Fukushima which was few hours away, an official of Samy company which made the snorkel and the pump said. It is being sent a donation from the company, he said.
The company is also dispatching few staff members to train the Japanese engineers to handle it.
The snorkel could directly pump water right into the damaged reactor from a safe distance.
Japanese officials used several fire engines to shoot water into the reactors.
Besides problems in reaching the top of the reactors, the fire engines had to go close to the reactors exposing the staff to very high levels of radiation.
{{/usCountry}}Besides problems in reaching the top of the reactors, the fire engines had to go close to the reactors exposing the staff to very high levels of radiation.
{{/usCountry}}The Japanese officials also unsuccessfully tried to dump water using the helicopters.
Both methods were found to be partially successful.
The snorkel and pump was expected to pump large quantities of water to cool down the reactors.