The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex announced on Thursday that it may resume an operation next week to retrieve a small amount of melted fuel from one of the reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (TEPCO) had suspended the operation last month due to an error in the placement of pipes used for fuel debris extraction. TEPCO officials revealed at a press conference that the mistake occurred because no one from their company oversaw the preparation process to ensure that the pipes were connected in the correct order.
According to TEPCO, workers wearing protective gear in the high radiation environment found it difficult to distinguish between similar-looking pipes. The utility company stated that it will take several days to prepare and recommence the operation. The plan is to connect five 1.5-meter-long pipes and use them to insert a retrieval device into the containment vessel of reactor No. 2, with hopes of collecting a debris sample.
Akira Ono, chief decommissioning officer at TEPCO, expressed his concern over leaving such an important task solely in contractors’ hands without direct monitoring by TEPCO officials during assembly. In response, TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa reported inadequate management and confirmation procedures as contributing factors leading up to this error during his meeting with Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito on Wednesday.
Retrieving melted fuel remains one of the most challenging tasks in Fukushima Daiichi’s decades-long decommissioning plan following its damage from a massive earthquake and tsunami back in March 2011. Approximately 880 tons of fuel debris still remain within reactors No. 1, 2, and 3 after their cooling systems failed due to a power outage caused by this natural disaster.