By FUMI YADA/ Staff Writer
June 19, 2024 at 07:00 JST
KOBE--A specialized device resembling a fishing rod will be used to “hook” tiny bits of melted nuclear fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the work is expected to begin no later than October and will be done on a trial basis.
The equipment was shown to reporters on May 28.
The removal of melted fuel is regarded as the trickiest phase of decommissioning work, because the wrecked facility is still plagued by extremely high levels of radiation.
TEPCO plans to remove a few grams of melted nuclear fuel from the No. 2 reactor because radiation levels there are relatively low.
An extendable pipe to be used for the delicate maneuver was demonstrated at a facility in Kobe operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
Designed like a fishing pole, the 22-meter-long device was inserted into a model of the pedestal to support the reactor’s pressure vessel.
The aim was to ascertain whether pebbles representing fuel debris could be grasped with the claw-like arm.
A total of 880 tons of fuel debris is estimated to remain in the plant’s No. 1 to No. 3 reactors.
Under plans drawn up by the government and TEPCO, the melted fuel removal work was due to start in 2021. But the process was postponed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mechanical malfunctions.
The recovery method was also changed: a robotic arm developed for the purpose later turned out to lack a sufficient level of precision.
TEPCO now plans to gingerly begin the procedure with a simple rod-style system first, and deploy the robotic arm at the subsequent stage.
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The tip of a fishing rod-style arm designed to grab nuclear fuel debris from the No. 2 reactor of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant (Takuya Tanabe)
