Tepco to start removing molten fuel from reactor 2 by the end of 2022

On the 24th June 2021, Tepco revealed their updated decommissioning plan for Fukushima nuclear plant.

They delayed the schedule by one year due to the ongoing pandemic.

The nuclear fuel is assumed to be in the molten state from reactor 1 to 3. As reactor 2 has been relatively the most investigated, Tepco will start focusing on reactor 2.

The robot arm, which is expected to reach the molten fuel, has been developed by International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), Mitsubishi heavy industries and Veolia Nuclear Solutions. As the development process was completed in The UK, the robot arm was transported to Japan on 10th July and transferred the domestic factory in Kobe. After the inspection, mockup testing is planned to be implemented. The detailed dates are not announced.

By the 24th May 2021, still high level of radiation was detected outside the primary containment vessel (PCV) of reactor 2 up to 0.53 Sv/h. The picture attached is the bulkhead part of the PCV in reactor 2.

 

https://www.tepco.co.jp/decommission/information/committee/roadmap_progress/pdf/2021/d210624_08-j.pdf

 

https://www.tepco.co.jp/decommission/information/newsrelease/reference/pdf/2021/2h/rf_20210712_2.pdf

 

https://www.tepco.co.jp/decommission/information/committee/roadmap_progress/2021-j.html

 

 

About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

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