TEPCO may resume fuel debris extraction at Fukushima nuclear plant next week

TOKYO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Thursday that it may resume operation to retrieve a small amount of nuclear fuel debris from one of crippled reactors at the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant next week.
On Aug. 22, the TEPCO was set to attempt to retrieve up to three grams of debris from No. 2 unit at the plant but suspended the operation after setup errors were discovered during preparations.
TEPCO officials said at a press conference on Thursday that the erroneous placement of pipes used in the fuel debris extraction work involving contractors resulted in the suspension of the test retrieval last month.
The pipes looked similar and it was difficult to distinguish for workers wearing protective gear in the high radiation environment, they added.
The setup of necessary devices was primarily handled by contractors, and relevant officials did not directly confirm the procedures, leading to errors in the retrieval device setup, according to the utility.
The company said it will take several days to prepare and recommence the operation.
Akira Ono, chief decommissioning officer at the TEPCO, said the assembly of the pipes should not have been left to the contractors without TEPCO officials directly monitoring the procedure.
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan’s northeast led to core meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant operated by TEPCO, resulting in a level-7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
An estimated 880 tons of fuel debris remain in No. 1, 2 and 3 nuclear reactors that suffered core meltdowns in the accident. The experimental removal of the deadly debris was initially planned for 2021 but got postponed three times due to the coronavirus pandemic and technical difficulties. ■