TEPCO begins removing nuclear fuel at Fukushima plant

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Tokyo Electric Power Co. started removing nuclear fuel from a damaged reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant for the first time, marking a new stage in the decades-long decommissioning process.

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TEPCO begins removing nuclear fuel at Fukushima plant
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Tokyo Electric Power Co. started removing nuclear fuel from a damaged reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant for the first time, marking a new stage in the decades-long decommissioning process.

The operation to empty the storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building, which holds 1,533 nuclear fuel assemblies, began at 3:18 p.m. on Nov. 18.

Special equipment will lift the fuel assemblies, one at a time, and place them in a cask that can hold 22 units. The container will then be transported by vehicle to a common pool on the plant compound.

The No. 4 reactor had been shut down for regular inspections when the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck, and all its fuel was in the storage pool.

All fuel assemblies are expected to be removed by December 2014.

But the overall decommissioning work at the stricken nuclear plant is expected to take 30 to 40 years to complete.

High radioactivity levels have prevented workers from entering areas of the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors, which suffered meltdowns. Removal of spent nuclear fuel in those three reactor buildings is expected to begin in 2015, at the earliest.

TEPCO hopes to start removing the melted fuel from the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors in fiscal 2020.

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