Fukushima officials visit
Starkville to learn about MSU’s
testing of filters to containradioactive materials
July 28, 2017(//www.msstate.edu/sites/www.msstate.edu/files/ICET_20170727_B5W4505_0.jpg)
MSU Institute for Clean Energy Technology Director Charles Waggoner (right) explains ICET’s
filter testing capabilities to visitors from Japan. (Photo by Beth Wynn)

Contact: James Carskadon (mailto:jcarskadon@opa.msstate.edu)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Officials and engineers tasked with preventing the release ofradioactive material during debris removal from the Fukushima nuclear site inJapan are visiting Mississippi State University this week to learn about theuniversity’s expertise in evaluating components of radioactive containment
systems.
MSU’s Institute for Clean Energy Technology is the international leader in
evaluating the performance of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration
systems used in nuclear power plants. ICET Director Charles Waggoner said HEPA
filters, which are used in nuclear power plants’ containment ventilation systems,
prevent the release of air with radioactive material into the atmosphere.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was damaged in March 2011 by atsunami that followed an earthquake. The team of engineers visiting ICET isresponsible for designing the containment ventilation systems for the damaged
reactors before the containment vessels can be breached to begin debris removal.
“Much of the world’s population is aware of what happened at Fukushima. Of thefour reactors, three suffered a core meltdown,” Waggoner said. “They are at thepoint of trying to determine how to breach the containment vessel in order to start
to retrieve the radioactive debris from the core melting down. That material will behighly radioactive and the process that will be used will also produce aerosols. Theway you remove radioactive aerosols from an airstream is to, among other things,
use HEPA filters at the end of the treatment train. They’re here because of ourability to evaluate the performance capabilities of HEPA filters under very adverseconditions.”
The six visitors from Japan each represent one of the organizations collaboratingon the design of processes and infrastructure to remove materials from thedamaged reactors. The group is led by Osamu Seki of the International ResearchInstitute for Nuclear Decommissioning.
“It is indispensable to use the HEPA filters because from now on they will help get
rid of the debris from the failed nuclear plant,” Seki said. “It is very important toventilate the air, which is why the HEPA filters are indispensable to this wholeprocess. We want to learn more about the knowledge and expertise the MSU
researchers have accumulated. We also want to build a continuous relationship so
we can learn more and help solve our problems.”
ICET, a unit of MSU’s Bagley College of Engineering and a part of MSU’s Energy
Institute, has been working with the U.S. Department of Energy for almost 20 years
to develop the capability of testing filters under worst-case scenario conditions.
Jaime Rickert, ICET’s research program manager and quality assurance manager,implemented a nuclear quality assurance program at ICET that meets Departmentof Energy standards. Data gathered by ICET researchers is used by the Departmentof Energy to determine what, if any, changes need to be made to filters at nuclear
facilities.
“We provide testing data to the Department of Energy that meets their moststringent quality assurance standards, so they can then go to nuclear facilities
using these filters and say, ‘yes, these filters are good for your facility,’ or, ‘we mayneed to adjust the conditions they’re being used in,’” Rickert said. “ICET’s nuclear
quality assurance program, which has been audited and approved by theDepartment of Energy, ensures that they have the data to support any changes
that need to be made.”
The visiting officials from Japan also will visit the Hanford Site in Washington State
to discuss design considerations and the use of HEPA filters in the Waste
Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
For more on MSU’s Institute for Clean Energy Technology, visit
www.icet.msstate.edu (http://www.icet.msstate.edu).
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu(//www.msstate.edu).

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