TEPCO Successfully Completes Trial Removal of N-Fuel Debris

Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that it has completed the trial removal of nuclear fuel debris from a crippled reactor at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

In the two-month trial, TEPCO collected a 5-millimeter piece of fuel debris from the No. 2 reactor at the plant and placed it in a special container for transport after confirming that radiation levels were not problematic for carrying out the operation.

It is the first time that such debris has been collected from a reactor containment vessel since the plant was hit by the March 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami.

The project to decommission the disaster-stricken nuclear plant has now entered a new phase. The debris piece will be analyzed at four facilities, including those of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Ibaraki Prefecture, and the findings are expected to be used for the full-scale removal of fuel debris.

TEPCO began the trial work in September and collected the debris piece from the reactor containment vessel's bottom on Oct. 30 with a remote controlled device shaped like a fishing rod. The device with the debris piece was removed from the containment vessel on Saturday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]