Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Melted nuclear fuel removal First from the next year, Unit 2 at 10:04 on December 2

The national response team that formulates the decommissioning policy of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS summarizes the plan to start the removal of the so-called “fuel debris”, which is considered to be the biggest challenge, from Unit 2 in 2021. It was.

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and other ministries related to the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the decommissioning / contaminated water countermeasure team created by the tops of related organizations review the decommissioning process approximately every two years.

At the conference held at the official residence on the 2nd, taking out the so-called “fuel debris” of Unit 1 to Unit 3 that caused the meltdown, which was the biggest difficulty, will start with Unit 2 from 2021 two years later I compiled the idea.

In September, the “Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Support Organization” of the country that is considering the technical policy should take out Unit 2 first because it knows the best internal situation. It became the form based on this.

However, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has shown a plan to use a robot to collect a sample twice before the start of removal, but this was not sent off and the robot was trained more carefully using a model that reproduced the site. I am preparing to do such as.

In addition, the conference showed for the first time the process of completing the removal of nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool of Unit 1 to Unit 6 by the end of 2031.

The final decommissioning period was 2041 to 2051, and there was no change.

The plan compiled this time will be officially decided after hearing the opinions of local governments.

Expert "Be careful about the scattering of radioactive materials"

Mr. Atsushi Miyano, chairman of the decommissioning study committee of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, said that the debris removal will increase internal work in the future. “The most important thing to note is that the radioactive material in the containment vessel is scattered. It is important to take action in advance assuming various risks, such as earthquakes, heavy objects falling, etc. "

In addition, it is necessary to have a technique for removing a large amount of debris in the future. “It is not possible to see a concrete method of how to cut out and remove solid debris. It is necessary to create a method that can be used and to materialize it. "

Schedule of work Shows "policy" and "target time" of work

In order to summarize the process for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant decommissioning, the countermeasure team is attended by the heads of related organizations such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry serves.

After the first decommissioning process was shown in December 2011, 9 months after the accident, it has been revised four times so far, and this is the fifth time.

The process chart includes work policies and target times for fuel debris retrieval, countermeasures against contaminated water, response to waste, etc. Based on this, specific methods for fuel debris retrieval and contaminated water On-site work will be determined, including countermeasures to prevent the occurrence of accidents.