Increase in demand for respirators for use at the nuclear accident explosion site


AWSS

Air Water Safety Service accounts for about 70% of the Japanese market for respirators. In the April-June period 26 units of their oxygen respirator of OXY GEM 11 were sold to fire departments and companies which are the main users. In addition, 28 units were rushed to Tokyo Electric Power for use at the site of the incident involving the nuclear reactors. An additional 100 units are to be supplied in July.

Normally, after inhalation all of the exhaled air is emitted into the atmosphere. The OXY GEM 11, however, removes the carbon dioxide in the exhaled air and the oxygen gas which has been consumed is resupplied. Through recycling of the air, and breathing it again, it can be reused over a long period of time. When the atmosphere air with an oxygen concentration of 21% is inhaled, the exhaled air contains 4% carbon dioxide and the oxygen concentration is lowered to 17%. The OXY GEM 11 absorbs the 4% of carbon dioxide with an absorbent and supplies that same amount of oxygen and can hold down the consumption of the oxygen in the cylinder. Because of this, it can be operated 10 times longer than an air respirator. Specifically, an existing respirator can be used for 15 minutes while this unit can be used for a period of 150 minutes.

Normally some 200 to 250 units of OXY GEM 11 are sold a year but the number sold to Tokyo Electric Power already shows nearly half of that figure. Masaharu Mori, head of the Respirator Department, noted with respect to the spot demand that, “We have had numerous inquiries from nuclear power stations other than Tokyo Electric Power, and we are now adjusting our production setup to cope with this.” Air Water is aiming at sales of 300 units for this year.