Polar ice tank for Japan

Press, 17 February 1983, Page 12

Polar ice tank for Japan

By

BRUCE ROSCOE

in Tokyo A leading Japanese steelmaker recently completed Japan's second polar ice tank for testing equipment to be used for extracting off-shore oil and gas from Antarctic and Arctic regions. The completion of the tank comes as Antarctic Treaty member States earlier this month agreed in Wellington on setting up a minerals

exploitation regime for the continent which could be established within the next year. Built by Nippon Kokan at a cost of $5.8 million, the tank simulates various ice conditions found in polar regions such as ice levels, pressure ridges, and pack ice fields. The 20-metre long tank is equipped with a gantry which pulls a model of Japan's third icebreaker. Shirase, also built by Nippon

Kokan. through the ice and an underwater flatcar. on which model offshore drilling structures are mounted. The tests include the ice resistance of such structures over varying periods of time. Data from the experiments are sent from the gantry to an information centre for computer analysis. It is the first such tank to be built by Japan's private sector, indicating increased commercial interest in the exploitation of Antarctic

mineral resources. According to the February 1 edition of "Sekai no Kansen" (Ships of the World), the United States has five such tanks (of which two are run by the navy and airforce), the Soviet Union and West Germany each have one. Finland runs one. and the Japanese Government also has one at its ship research technology centre in Mita, near Tokyo.