TEPCO launches English-language fuel debris portal website

There is an estimated 880 tons of fuel debris contained within Units 1–3 of Japan’s damaged Fukushima power plant. TEPCO is currently preparing a trial exercise of retrieving fuel debris from Unit 2, which has relatively lower radiation doses than the other units and is easier to access. After the trial retrieval from Unit 2, TEPCO said it plans to gradually enlarge the scope of debris retrieval around the mid-2020s.

Unit 2 trial retrieval: In late August, TEPCO suspended its planned trial removal of fuel debris from Unit 2’s reactor pressure vessel after issues with the retrieval equipment were discovered.

Workers had connected sections of a push pipe in the wrong order. The push pipes are part of an assembly being used to insert a telescopic arm through a penetration in the reactor vessel to retrieve the fuel debris.

While TEPCO reported no worker or radiological safety issues regarding the incident, the company said it was reexamining its processes for implementing checks.

TEPCO was to resume the trial retrieval this week, according to a September 5 report by Barron’s.

Portal details: According to TEPCO, the portal site will provide timely information regarding Fukushima’s melted fuel debris, including the Unit 2 trial retrieval, along with explanations, videos, and illustrations of activities being conducted at the three damaged units.

The English-language portal was launched on September 4, while a Japanese version has been available since August 19.