Removal of nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is proving difficult... ``Robot arms may not be usable''

Work to remove nuclear fuel debris left in the reactor at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has been hampered by the preparation process.
According to the "Tokyo Shimbun" on the 22nd, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on the 16th that the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 reactor
When the lid of a structure connecting the inside and outside of the reactor containment vessel was opened to remove nuclear fuel debris, the inside was filled with gray deposits. The deposit is a cylinder with a diameter of 55 cm.
It is presumed that cables and other objects inside the structure were melted by the high heat that accompanied the accident. Tokyo Electric Power Company has a robot arm that is approximately 2 meters long that it created to remove nuclear fuel debris.
The plan was to put it in a cylindrical structure and begin work. TEPCO uses a metal brush attached to the end of a robot arm that extends up to 22 meters to remotely collect nuclear fuel debris.
I was planning to. The robot arm was developed by Japanese and British companies in April 2017 with government funding. However, due to debris stuck inside the cylindrical structure, the robot's arm
Analysis has shown that there is not enough space for the Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to launch high-pressure water to wash away the deposits by the end of the year. Sediment hardens and creates high pressure water
However, if this is not possible, an alternative plan was proposed to extract the nuclear fuel debris using a rod 20 centimeters in diameter that can be stretched and contracted like a fishing rod. In Japan, this will also happen in 2019.
This method has been used to remove nuclear fuel debris. However, this method has a smaller working area than a robot arm and requires someone to set up the pole outside the structure, leaving workers alone.
There is a high possibility of exposure to radiation. Akira Ono, chief executive of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning Promotion Company, said, ``(Removal work using sticks) is just a supplement.The main thing is the (robot's) arm.
I want to do what I can," he emphasized. The schedule for removing nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been postponed. Initially, the plan was to start removing the robot in 2021, but the robot
Development of the arm has taken longer than expected, with delays of more than two years. Prior to this, a situation occurred in which 15 of the 24 bolts that secure the reactor containment vessel lid were stuck and could not be removed.
It took four months to open the door. Nuclear fuel debris remains not only in the reactor of Unit 2, but also in Units 1 and 3. The total amount of nuclear fuel debris is estimated to be 880 tons. In the case of Unit 3, the reactor building
They are considering a method of covering the entire structure with a structure and filling the inside with water, then extracting the nuclear fuel, but nothing has been finalized. ``Tokyo Shimbun'' said, ``The current plan is to reach the existing target of 2051.''
"It is not possible to remove all nuclear fuel debris immediately."