Authorities dumped some of the waste seawater used to cool the reactors back into the sea, where it joined contaminated water leaking from cracks in the plant and nuclear fallout from the air.

The proprietary Stirling engine was developed by Cool energy to efficiently convert solar thermal energy or waste heat into electricity.

The devices may be used to cool electronics, harness solar energy in a new way, and conserve energy by changing waste heat into electric power.