Japan Begins Removing Highly Radioactive Fukushima Fuel Debris, After Years of Prep

Over a decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, retrieval of fuel debris from the defunct power station has finally begun.

In a statement released earlier today, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said the team running the Fukushima decommissioning project had initiated a trial run of extracting the highly radioactive fuel remnants. The new stage in cleaning up the disaster area commenced after a series of pipes had been connected, allowing access to the power plant’s Unit 2.

The connecting of the pipes had suffered several delays in July. TEPCO said in an incident report that one of the five push pipes, used to propel the robot for cleaning up the highly radioactive material, was temporarily misplaced as workers scrambled to avoid exceeding their daily radiation limit. Workers encountered another snag when they installed one of the pipes in the wrong place.

Those delays were just the latest in a project that has has dragged on due to the highly dangerous and complex nature of the work. Fuel debris removal was originally supposed to begin in 2021.

While the equipment to begin removing the roughly 880 tons of nuclear fuel is now in place, the first step will be a small one. TEPCO’s plan calls for just a few grams to be removed from Unit 2, which will then be sealed and sent to Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency for analysis.

“We will continue to remain vigilant and prioritize safety as we aim to complete decommissioning,” the company said in a statement. Once the fuel debris removal begins in earnest, the current plan calls for it to be stored within a specially designed containment unit that will be constructed on site.

In May, officials unveiled a robot designed to assist in removing the melted fuel. The robot is being deployed into contaminated areas through pipes, using telescopic tongs to remove small amounts of radioactive debris.

Unit 2 is the first of the facility’s three reactors where fuel cleanup operations are being conducted. The March 11, 2011 disaster began when a 9.0 earthquake struck off the Japanese coast, triggering a tsunami. The plant’s operators subsequently lost the ability to cool the three reactors, leading to the overheating and melting of the uranium fuel rods. The melted metal later cooled and re-solidified.

Currently, conditions in Unit 1 are still being investigated. A submersible robot was used to examine the underwater sections of the unit, and four drones were deployed to examine the area above the water. Using that information, authorities are still devising the best plan of action to retrieve the fuel debris that remain in the reactor area.

Two other units were shut down at the time of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the partial meltdown. A sixth unit was defueled, but was still severely damaged by an explosion. The cost of cleaning up the Fukushima site is expected to reach at least $14 billion, (2 trillion yen), and will take 30 to 40 years to complete.