TEPCO finally begins nuclear fuel recovery after long delays

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that it has successfully begun receiving melted nuclear fuel from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the first step in a project to clean up radioactive debris.

On October 30, TEPCO engineers used a remote-controlled robotic crane to retrieve a piece of fuel residue from the plant’s No. 2 reactor.

The extracted piece, estimated to weigh less than 3 grams, will be removed from the reactor over the next few days before being sent to a laboratory in Ibaraki Prefecture for detailed analysis.

If successful, this would be the first recovery of melted nuclear fuel from the facility since the devastating accident triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

TEPCO will use the analysis results to determine how to remove the estimated 880 tons of debris accumulated in the facility’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors.

Removing highly radioactive residue is the biggest challenge in the facility’s lengthy decommissioning process, which is estimated to last decades.

The crane device involved in the latest operation extends up to 22 meters and is equipped with two cameras and a gripper.

The operation was originally planned to begin in 2021, but encountered delays due to technical problems with a different robotic arm designed for the project. This arm was eventually replaced by the winch currently in use.

Even after the project restarted in August, repeated technical malfunctions caused the program to be further delayed.

The most recent glitch was related to the malfunction of the cameras on the crane. Although the backup cameras were working properly, the cause of the initial difficulties has not yet been determined.