Decontamination Method of Ground Based on SilicaTech® Coating Technique

The TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Corpolation Holding Inc.) Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Plant Accident in March 2011 has contaminated wide areas of east Japan with the radioactive substance. New idea has been created to use a SilicaTech® coating technique which was based on the Sol-Gel method to decontaminate soil of the ground. The liquid of the SilicaTech® coating technique with high permeability can penetrates into any depth and solidify the soil layer. The solidified soil can be easily dug without missing the contaminated soil nor taking extra of clean soil. The decontamination test was successfully performed at the Watari Elementary School of Fukusima-city. The radioactive cesium depth on 16 May, 2011 was found to be 1.5 cm and in consistency with the geometrical averages of later data reported from the Ministry of Environment in 2016.