Okuma, Fukushima Pref., Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)--An operation to remove fuel from the building for the No. 2 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan is progressing smoothly thanks to thorough preparations, workers in charge of the mission have said.
TEPCO began in June to take nuclear fuel from the storage pool of the No. 2 reactor using remote-controlled equipment. The power station in Fukushima Prefecture was heavily damaged in the March 2011 major earthquake and tsunami, and is being decommissioned.
Unlike the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors, the No. 2 unit did not experience a hydrogen explosion and therefore suffered no major damage to the building housing the reactor, but radiation levels around the spent fuel pool have been high.
An opening was made in the wall of the reactor building, and workers use specialized remote-controlled equipment consisting of three cranes to place fuel assemblies removed from the pool into a container called a cask, which is then taken out through the opening.
A worker who is from a company cooperating with the plant decommissioning and responsible for loading the fuel into the casks told reporters that workers had repeatedly practiced beforehand using mock fuel assemblies that were almost identical with real assemblies in shape and weight.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Read in other languages