The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company have decided to abandon the planned trial retrieval of nuclear fuel debris from Unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant by the end of this fiscal year due to difficulties. This year, we have decided once again to aim to start by October.
This is the third time that the start of removal has been postponed, once again highlighting the difficulty of decommissioning the reactor.
The amount of "nuclear fuel debris" that is a mixture of melted nuclear fuel and structures is estimated to be approximately 880 tons in total from Units 1 to 3, and the government and TEPCO are conducting the first test of only a few grams of debris. The plan is to start extracting the material from the second unit.
The removal was intended to begin within this fiscal year, but the piping that takes the robot arm into the containment vessel was blocked with deposits, and although removal work began this month, it was not possible to remove it as expected, and the work was delayed. We were having a difficult time.
For this reason, the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company reviewed plans to use a robot arm and decided to start removing the debris by inserting a retractable rod-like device into the crevices of the deposit.
However, the equipment design and new plans must be approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, and the target date for the start of removal has been postponed by more than six months, with the aim being by October this year.
The removal of nuclear fuel debris is said to be the most difficult task in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, but this is the third time that the start of removal has been postponed, resulting in a delay of nearly three years from the original goal, once again highlighting the difficulty of decommissioning. It has become.