Government will use sand-creating electrodes to save Okinotorishima

The Yomiuri reports that the Japanese government is attempting to save its territorial claim to Okinotorishima by using electrodes to boost the size of the tiny rocks:

The new technology is called the electrodeposition method. The Research Institute for Ocean Economics (RIOE), an ocean preservation foundation backed by businesses, has jointly studied the method with companies.

By placing active electrodes in seawater, calcium and magnesium ions are collected around negative-charged electrodes. The ions form sandlike chemical compounds such as calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide.

During the demonstration conducted in Yoronjima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, chemical compounds adhered to the surface of the electrodes about a month after they were electrified. The experiment confirmed that in about a five-month period, coral adheres to electrodes and can live on the surfaces. RIOE plans to conduct the same experiment on Okinotorishima island in fiscal 2010.

The article does not mention the cost of the proposed plan, but I’m guessing it isn’t cheap.