N-Fuel Debris Extracted from TEPCO Fukushima Reactor

Tokyo, Nov. 2 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Saturday that it has extracted nuclear fuel debris from a reactor at its meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

The plant operator retrieved from the containment vessel of the plant's No. 2 reactor a device holding a small amount of fallen debris, as part of an experimental removal work.

It is the first time that nuclear fuel debris has been removed from a reactor containment vessel since the plant in Fukushima Prefecture suffered a meltdown following the March 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami.

TEPCO said that it caught debris on Wednesday using a claw-like tool attached to the tip of a retrieval device shaped like a fishing rod. On Saturday, the company spent about an hour pulling the device out of the containment vessel, and placed the whole device inside a sealed container box by 10 a.m.

The extracted debris is about 5 millimeters in length and is believed to weigh several grams.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]