Fuel Removal from Fukushima No. 2 Reactor Pool to Begin Tues.

Tokyo, June 1 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. will start removing nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool at the No. 2 reactor of its tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Tuesday, it was learned Monday. The work is considered a key step in the process of decommissioning the plant, alongside removing fuel debris. Initially, it was planned to start more than eight years earlier. Similar work has already been completed at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of the plant. According to TEPCO, a total of 615 nuclear fuel assemblies, including 587 spent assemblies and 28 unused assemblies, remain in the No. 2 reactor pool. They will be transferred to a common pool on the plant premises, where more stable cooling is possible, to reduce risks. The company aims to complete the work in fiscal 2028. Fuel assemblies, each weighing about 300 kilograms, will be placed one by one into a transport container known as a cask inside the pool. A remotely operated crane and other equipment inserted through an opening in the wall of the No. 2 reactor building will be used. The cask will then be lifted out of the pool, moved to a platform next to the building and loaded onto a trailer for transport to the common pool. This method will be used because radiation levels on the fifth floor of the No. 2 reactor building, which avoided a hydrogen explosion in the March 2011 accident, are as high as 3 to 5 millisieverts per hour, making it difficult for workers to stay there for long. It differs from those adopted for similar work at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors and involves more difficulties. TEPCO aims to remove nuclear fuel from all fuel pools by 2031. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]