The U.S. Department of Energy had been using the big pumper at a mixed oxide fuel plant construction site in southeastern Georgia. Eventually, nuclear waste is to be disposed of here.  But the decision was made to transfer it to Japan -- along with several other such large pumps, from around the world -- in order to deal with a disaster that has been brewing since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc at the plant and stoked fears about massive releases of radiation.  "I use the pump every day at the river site, but they're trying to avert a situation that worsens each day," said Jerry Ashmore, the owner of Ashmore Concrete Contractors that supplies concrete for the Savannah River facility.  "They need all this equipment. They need help."  Company officials say the prep work should be done by this weekend. Then, Georgia's transportation department must sign off on necessary highway and bridge permits, which are required due to the pumper truck's immense size. Eventually, it will be driven west to Atlanta, to be ideally flown out of the country by next Friday.  Ashmore didn't have all the details about how the concrete pump will be used once it gets to Japan, though he understood its first mission will be to pump water to prevent overheating and the further emission of radioactive material.  "I understand it will be used to pump water into the reactor and later they can use it for concrete operations that need to be done," said Ashmore.  The big pump, one of a handful of such trucks built by the German company Putzmeister, appears to be tailor-made for this type of project -- especially in a radioactive environment.  And this is not the first-time the company's large concrete pumps have been utilized to help address a nuclear crisis.
One of the world's largest concrete pumps is being readied to get on a massive cargo plane and head to Japan, all part of the effort to address the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power