Robot enters Fukushima's nuclear core to retrieve melted-down remains
Trying for 3 grams, only 880 tons to go!
Video On Tuesday, a robot began entering the Unit 2 reactor at the defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant, in an attempt to retrieve a tiny piece of the fuel that melted down in 2011.
The device, dubbed Telesco by operators (and site owners) Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), is a robotic grabber that will be maneuvered into the reactor core using telescoping poles. If successful, it will bring back about three grams – out of the estimated 880 tons – of nuclear waste for examination by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The video below shows the robot at work.
"We believe the test removal of fuel debris from Unit 2 is an important part of the decommissioning work to be carried out," Yusuke Nakagawa, team manager at TEPCO, told Associated Press. "We believe it is important to proceed with the test removal of fuel debris in a safe and reliable manner."
However, the first try at the job in August didn't go according to plan. Telesco is being pushed into the reactor mounted on metal poles that should extend 22 meters (72 feet) into the reactor's core. But the operators managed to assemble the poles in the wrong order, so two weeks of reorganization was needed before trying again.
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TEPCO and the government have said they'd like the whole site cleared and decontaminated by 2050 – which has been described as optimistic. Telesco's mission is to try and find out what state the fuel is in.
"The government will firmly and responsibly tackle the decommissioning until the very end," insisted government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi.
This isn't the first time TEPCO has sent robots into the ruined nuclear reactor – with mixed success. A 2015 attempt to enter Unit 1 of the reactor saw a robot explorer die after three hours in the highly radioactive area. An underwater robot had more success in 2017.
After a suspension of nuclear power in the immediate aftermath of the accident, Japan is looking to get its nuclear industry back online barely a decade later – a move that is proving problematic because of a lack of skills left in the sector. There's also the radioactive hybrid terror pigs to consider. ®
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