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After the tsunami most of the buildings were flooded by more or less contaminated seawater. Due to the addition of water injected to cool the damaged reactors, the operator was facing the threat of a global overflow. The French companies AREVA and Veolia and American company Kurion were contracted to construct urgently a large-capacity decontamination facility. The system provided by Kurion uses mineral sorbents in shielded towers and is the first stage of decontamination. The system provided by AREVA and Veolia uses chemical precipitation as in the French nuclear plants in Marcoule and La Hague, and is implemented in Veolia compact water treatment machines, which were initially not designed for radioactive effluents. Despite the huge challenge of developing innovative systems and then building them in a difficult and changing environment, both systems were completed in less than three months, and the overflow was avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]