TEPCO Starts Removing Spent Fuel from Fukushima No. 2 Reactor

Tokyo, Aug. 17 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Monday it has started removing spent nuclear fuel emitting high-level radiation from the pool of the No. 2 reactor at its disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. Last month, the company removed 28 unused nuclear fuel assemblies, which have a relatively lower risk, from the same reactor. TEPCO hopes to complete the removal of spent fuel by the end of fiscal 2028. TEPCO has already finished removing seven of the 587 spent fuel assemblies from the No. 2 reactor. Fuel assemblies taken out are transferred to a safer common storage pool at the premises of the nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The fuel removal will be suspended from October due to a facility checkup and for securing space in the common pool. Work related to the transfer of spent fuel started in June. Spent fuel assemblies are put into a container called a cask inside the reactor pool by a remote-controlled crane. Once a cask is filled, it is lifted up from the pool and then down to a trailer outside the reactor building, and the assemblies are moved to the common pool. TEPCO has completed fuel removal from the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the nuclear power station heavily damaged in the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami. Fuel removal is slated to start in fiscal 2027 or fiscal 2028 at the No. 1 reactor, where work to remove debris is still being carried out. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]