The nuclear fuel debris collected on a trial basis from a crippled reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station weighs 0.7 gram, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said Friday.
The collected substance will be analyzed at four facilities, including the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, for research toward full-scale extraction of nuclear fuel debris from reactors at the Tepco plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
Hydrogen concentration in the fuel debris retrieved from the plant's No. 2 reactor was below the detection limit, so the company determined that it can be transported safely.
Before the extraction, the radiation level of the 5-millimeter fragment of fuel debris was 0.2 millisievert, according to TEPCO.
The company plans to spend the next few days preparing for the transportation of the fuel debris to the four facilities.
The four facilities will share the nuclear fuel debris and analyze its components and hardness over several months to a year.
TEPCO collected the debris from the No. 2 reactor Thursday, about two months after the trial work was launched Sept. 10. It was the first time that fuel debris has been removed from a damaged reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
A total of about 880 tons of nuclear debris, a mixture of melted fuel and reactor parts, is believed to remain in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors.
The Fukushima No. 1 plant was knocked out by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami.
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