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| Japan Update: Edition 1 032811 |
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Putzmeister Group Helps Japan with Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Crisis
After the world watched in disbelief as Japan first experienced an earthquake, then a tsunami and finally a damaged nuclear power plant, a Putzmeister truck-mounted concrete boom pump assumed an extraordinary role of pumping seawater, instead of its normal concrete, to help cool reactors and prevent further disaster.
Due to the success of the first boom pump, Putzmeister has four more boom pumps on their way to Japan. Two 70Z-Meter semi-trailer mounted concrete boom pumps are shipping from Los Angeles, CA, USA; and two 62-Meter truck-mounted concrete boom pumps are shipping from Germany.
First to Arrive The BSF 58-Meter boom pump, the first to arrive on the site and the only one of its large size in Japan, towered 190 feet (58m) over the burnt-out remains of reactor No. 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, filling a spent-fuel pool with seawater at a rate up to 210 cubic yards an hour (160m�/hr), at pressures up to 1233 psi (85 bar).
An unusual application for a concrete pump, the advantage of using the long-reaching 58-Meter and its highly maneuverable four-section boom is that seawater could be fed a great distance over the destroyed building and yet reach exactly where required below. Plus, since the boom pump is operated via radio remote control the equipment operator is able to remain in a safe location while maneuvering the boom.
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Ready and Willing to Help
Yet, getting the boom pump to the nuclear power plant facility was no easy task. Fortunately, Hiroshi Suzuki, head of the Putzmeister subsidiary in Japan, and the man who had the initial idea to use the Putzmeister concrete boom pump as a water pump, had a great deal of persistence getting it to the nuclear power plant.
The first obstacle was that the large pump was on a ship in transit to a customer in Southeast Asia, who had to be asked to part with the equipment.
It was also necessary to gain government permission to transport the unit 150 miles (240km) north of Tokyo because of concerns that it would spew radioactive material into the atmosphere.
Moving forward, Suzuki diligently provided vital information about the equipment's unique capabilities to the prime minister's office on Tuesday, March 15 - only a few days after disaster struck.
A couple days later, an emergency order from the prime minister was given to quickly bring the Putzmeister boom pump ashore - a vehicle too large to legally drive on Japanese roads under normal circumstances. However, this was not a normal situation.
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Reliability on the Line
Suzuki and a colleague drove the pump north of the exclusion zone surrounding the unstable reactors. Once on site, they trained the plant's operators to operate the boom pump, and then stood by waiting for the pump to crank into action.
With reliability on the line in such a dire situation, the Putzmeister pump, taken from ship to site in a rushed manner, handled its first pumping job with great dependability; and thereby, its assistance helped lower radiation levels.
In its first dose, the concrete pump pumped 150 tons of seawater into reactor No. 4 spent-fuel pool, the most critical one of all. The nerve-wracking operation was carried out on March 22 by 12 workers and took three hours, and then again the next day resulting in lowered radiation levels.
More Help on the Way With the Putzmeister pump leading the way in successfully handling a challenging pumping situation, it was decided to pump successive doses of the seawater in the same manner, which is being undertaken as needed to bring the difficult nuclear reactor dilemma under control.
In order to increase the amount of seawater pumped onto specific locations of the reactors each day, four additional Putzmeister boom pumps are on their way. Two of the world's largest concrete boom pumps, the 70Z-Meter juggernaut, with 227-foot reaches; and two 62-Meter boom pumps with 200-foot reaches are on their way.
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No Stranger to Nuclear Power Plants 
Unfortunately no stranger to nuclear power plant tragedies, Putzmeister concrete placing equipment was also among those used to cool down and seal in the Chernobyl reactor after its 1986 explosion in Ukraine.
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Update
As the situation in Japan changes, please check your e-mail or the Putzmeister America homepage for updates.
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