FUKUSHIMA UPDATE: This month, workers completed the removal of the 1,331 spent fuel assemblies from a storage pool in reactor No 4, which was badly damaged in a hydrogen explosion after the March 2011 disaster. The removal of the unused fuel rods should be complete by the end of the year. Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, went as far as claiming that “the fate of Japan and the whole world” depended on the successful removal of spent fuel from reactor No 4…“This was a risky job, so when we removed the last fuel assembly we were delighted,” said Yuichi Kagami, who oversees fuel removal at the reactor. “This was a big step forward in the decommissioning process.” The most dangerous and difficult jobs lie ahead, however. Tepco has yet to begin removing melted fuel from reactors 1, 2 and 3, where radiation levels are too high for humans to enter. Tepco engineers admit they do not know exactly where the damaged fuel is located. Robots have been used to inspect debris inside reactor buildings, but none have been able to get anywhere near the melted fuel. The dangers posed by this unprecedented operation recently forced Tepco and the government to delay the planned start of fuel removal from reactor No 1 by five years, to 2025. The Guardian- tinyurl/kmsw8hr
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 04:30:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015