Related to this article..Water level was only 60cm from the bottom in reactor2
Tepco is planning the first endoscope operation to reactor1 announced in the daily press conference on 5/28/2012.
They are starting to prepare it by mid August, and finishing the operation from the end of August to September.
The endoscope will be inserted from the through hole “X-100B”, located on the first floor.
Because it’s 4.5m high from the floor, they will build a trestle to operate.
The purpose is to check the atmospheric temperature, dose, temperature of water and the water level.
They also plan to take the sample of water inside of the PCV.
However, they will not be able to see the nuclear fuel directly because it’s outside of the pedestal. Tepco assumes the melted fuel is inside of the pedestal.
Tepco also assumes, the nuclear fuel is “cold” to remain in the PCV. It has been in coolant water for longer than one year, water‐soluble nuclide might be captured in the sampling water.
However, they admit it’s just their assumption that the nuclear fuel remains within pedestal. Still it’s not known where/how the fuel is.
Iori Mochizuki