Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings says it has removed nuclear fuel debris left inside a reactor in a demonstration at its Fukushima No. 1 power plant, 13 years after a meltdown there.
Radioactive debris was removed from the Unit 2 reactor at the plant and was placed inside a sealed container for transportation, the power producer said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
The demonstration is part of Tepco’s cleanup plan for the site, after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami overwhelmed the facility and led to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The whole process is expected to cost around ¥23 trillion ($149 billion) and take decades to complete. About 880 tons of radioactive material, like melted fuel and metal cladding, are said to be stuck at the bottom of the three reactors at the plant.
Tepco, which is decommissioning the plant alongside the government, is using a robotic arm that looks like a fishing rod with a claw grip to remove a small sample of the nuclear debris. The company had planned to remove just 3 grams as part of the demonstration.
The removed debris is set to be transported to Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s research facility for analysis, according to Tepco’s website.
The retrieval process began in September but faced challenges. A camera attached to the robotic arm stopped working, forcing Tepco to suspend the demonstration to replace the camera.
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