Photo/Illutration Workers demonstrate the removal of fuel debris using remote-controlled devices in a facility in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Aug. 20. (Shoko Tamaki)

OARAI, Ibaraki Prefecture--Two days before the start of removal of debris from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on a trial basis, a facility here that will analyze the material was shown to the media.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency on Aug. 20 opened the facility, which will examine the melted nuclear fuel debris from one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

The laboratory will analyze the structure and properties of the debris using X-ray analysis equipment and an electron microscope.

The research aims to ascertain the reactor’s condition at the time of the accident caused by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 and assess the possibility of criticality.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, plans to remove a few grams of debris from the No. 2 reactor of the nuclear plant.

The removed debris will be transported in a container designed to shield high levels of radiation.

Workers will use remote-controlled devices to take the debris out of the container and analyze it while monitoring the process through a glass window.

The JAEA aims to compile the analysis results by the end of this fiscal year.

“Even through the analysis involves only a small amount, we believe it will provide data that can depict the conditions inside the reactor,” said Hideki Ogino, chief engineer at the JAEA’s Fukushima Research and Engineering Institute.

“We would like to contribute to the decommissioning of the reactors through further analysis,” he said.

The JAEA plans to utilize the analysis to shape future plans for full-scale debris removal.

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