A partial life-size model of stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is to be built to help in the development of robots that will be used for decommissioning.
A partial life-size model of stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is to be built to help in the development of robots that will be used for decommissioning.
The project is a joint undertaking by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled facility in northeastern Japan.
Reactor meltdowns occurred after massive tsunami swamped the plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
The model will help researchers develop robots that will locate and repair water leaks. A joint panel was set up to consider mid- to long-term measures for eventual decommissioning.
The plan was presented to the panel on March 28.
A doughnut-shaped suppression pool is attached to the lower side of the containment vessel for each of the reactors.
Officials suspect that radioactive water, which was used to cool down the No. 2 reactor core, is leaking from the suppression pool into other parts of the reactor building.
To reduce the volume of radioactive water, TEPCO must locate and block the leaks. However, high radiation levels are keeping humans at bay, which is where robots come in.
In addition to developing robots that can probe the interior of the building, the plan calls for the creation of a new center to analyze melted fuel and radioactive waste that will be generated during the processes leading up to decommissioning.
Both the development base and the analysis center will be built either on the grounds of or in the neighborhood of the Fukushima plant.
The panel members were informed that 10 million becquerels of radioactive substances were spewing into the atmosphere every hour from the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactor buildings where core meltdowns occurred.
The figure is unchanged from February, although it is seven times smaller than the corresponding discharge rate in January.