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Robot lifts bits of melted fuel at Japan’s Fukushima plant
TOKYO, Feb 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A robot arm has successfully picked up
pebble-sized pieces of radioactive fuel at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in
a complex operation seen as key to clean-up efforts after the 2011 meltdown,
officials said Thursday.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Wednesday sent down a remote-
controlled probe to the melted fuel at the bottom of the plant’s reactor 2,
one of three that melted down after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March
2011.
It caught five small pieces of the fuel debris and lifted them up some five
centimetres (two inches).
“We were able to confirm that the fuel debris can be moved,” said Yuka
Matsubara, a spokeswoman.
“We accomplished the objective of this test,” she told AFP, adding that the
company plans to actually remove some fuel debris as a sample by March next
year.
Robots have already peered inside the reactor to allow experts to assess
the melted fuel visually, but Wednesday’s test was the first attempt to work
out how fragile the highly radioactive material is.
Removing the melted fuel is considered the most difficult part of the
massive clean-up operation in the wake of the worst nuclear disaster since
Chernobyl.
It is not expected to begin until 2021, and TEPCO has other issues to
resolve including how to dispose of large quantities of contaminated water
stored in containers at the plant site.
The March 2011 tsunami that caused the meltdown was triggered by a massive
undersea quake and killed around 18,000 people.
Tens of thousands were forced to evacuate their homes because of the threat
of radiation.
Authorities have been working to rebuild the region, about 240 kilometres
(150 miles) north of Tokyo, although areas near the crippled plant remain
uninhabitable because of radiation dangers.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1304 hrs