|
. | . |
|
by Staff Writers Moscow (RIA Novosti) Nov 06, 2014
The firm operating the incapacitated Fukushima nuclear power plant today announced its success in removing all the spent uranium fuel from one of the wrecked plant's reactor buildings, completing one part of the second phase of the plant's decades-long decommissioning process. "The removal of the spent fuel assemblies was completed," reads today's statement by Tepco on its webpage, continuing that "the removal operation will continue to be performed in a safe and measured manner until the last fuel assembly has been removed and transferred to the common pool." In a year-long process, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. has removed 1,331 rods of spent uranium weighing 400 tons, which were housed in a damaged storage pool of water in reactor No. 4 at the plant. The rods are now to be checked for signs of damage, as the operation to clear the reactor continues with the removal of 202 non-irradiated uranium fuel rods, which are less dangerous. Of Fukushima's six reactors, four require the removal of uranium in order to prevent further contamination. Reactors No. 1-3 at Fukushima went into partial meltdown as a consequence of the tsunami, which damaged their cooling systems. No. 4 suffered a hydrogen explosion, while reactors No. 5 and 6 were less badly affected by the tsunami and their fuel remains stored and in stable condition. Kyodo News last week reported that Tepco has delayed work on removing the fuel from the other three reactors, which was due to start in 2017. Radiation levels are too high for humans to enter them, and the technology to perform the unprecedented cleanup operation alone is not developed enough. In June, 2013 Reuters reported that a $6 million robot sent to survey the reactors got lost during its inspection, and is still missing. Takuya Hattori, president of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum and a 36-year Tepco veteran told Reuters: "It's like going to war with bamboo sticks." The whole decommissioning process is set to take up to 40 years. The latest breakthrough represents good news for the company, which has been heavily criticized for its handling of the disaster, including a failure to deal with vast leaks of radioactive water from the plant. Tepco released the news on the same day as its positive quarterly progress report, and saw its share price rise 8.40 percent. Source: RIA Novosti
Related Links Tokyo Electric Power Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |