Atlanta ( CNN ) -- 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 plant . The 190,000-pound truck pump was moved off a job on the Savannah River on Wednesday and , two days later , was in Hanahan , South Carolina . Once preparations are complete , it will head about 7,000 miles toward Asia aboard a Russian Antonov 225 cargo plane , which is considered among the world 's biggest aircraft . 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 did n'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 . In 1986 , 11 Putzmeister concrete pumps were used after the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine , then a part of the Soviet Union . The reactors ' core were encased in massive amounts of concrete , to prevent the further release of any more radiation . For weeks , similar concrete pump engines have been used at the embattled power plant , as a conduit for water going into reactors and spent nuclear fuel pools . But the new pumps , like the one from the Savannah River site , have the advantage of being appreciably larger , making them potentially more useful for spraying water or a possible end-game scenario involving encasing nuclear reactor cores in concrete . Its 70-meter boom can be controlled remotely , which should allow it to disperse cooling water in pinpointed locations over a large distance , say experts . Typically trucks this massive are used in large projects using concrete , such as the construction of bridges or high-rise buildings . According to Putzmeister 's website , the company has already re-directed a truck-mounted concrete pump from an unknown location in Southeast Asia to head to the Fukushima Daiichi site , which is 240 kilometers ( 150 miles ) north of Tokyo . Another smaller Putzmeister pumper , currently in Los Angeles , is also being readied to fly to Japan .
A 190,000-pound truck pump is now in South Carolina , being prepped to fly out of Atlanta . It had been at a mixed oxide fuel plant site in southeast Georgia . A contractor says the truck 's first priority will be to supply water to keep nuclear fuel cool . Similar pumps were used in Chernobyl , which was eventually encased in concrete .