TOKYO (JAPAN) – In a key step in cleaning up the site where the nuclear disaster took place a decade ago, Tepco, Formally known as Tokyo Electric Power, said it had successfully removed the spent uranium fuel from a damaged reactor. This is the second successful operation of its kind and the first to be carried out by remote control, due to the high radiation in the reactor building.
Around 170 tonnes of spent uranium fuel in the building has been removed to a safer location. According to a statement released by Tepco, the last six of 566 used fuel assemblies were removed from the spent fuel pool by a crane operated by a team located about 500 metres (550 yards) away at 13:59 local time(0459 GMT)
This announcement comes in light of the preparations made by Japan to mark the tenth anniversary of the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. It will provide Tepco that has been operating the wrecked Fukushima atomic plant with the necessary experience and data for the much tougher and time-consuming task of extracting melted reactor cores and debris in the years to come.
