Nuclear fuel removed from Fukushima Daiichi reactor

The operator of Japan’s disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says one of the four heavily damaged reactor buildings at the site has been cleared of radioactive fuel rods.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on Saturday that a total of 1,535 fuel rod assemblies, including 1,331 riskier spent fuel rods and 204 unused ones, have now been removed from the No. 4 reactor building following a year-long operation.

The removal has reduced the risks of the exposure of the fuel in the event of a new earthquake or other events.

“Completion of the removal work is a milestone, but the decommissioning work will continue,” plant chief, Akira Ono, told reporters.

Three of the Fukushima plant’s reactors experienced meltdowns following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, which also triggered a tsunami, on March 11, 2011. The cooling systems of the plant’s reactors were knocked out, leading to the meltdowns and leakage of radioactive material.

More than 500,000 tons of radioactive water has so far been stored in nearly 1,000 large tanks that workers have built. The storage tanks are now being replaced with costlier welded ones after a series of leaks last year.

About 6,000 workers arrive at the Fukushima plant every day, with most of them having to deal with some 500,000 tons of contaminated water.

Experts say the most important task is to reduce the amount of radioactivity in contaminated water and decrease the risk of exposure to workers and its environmental effects before the decommissioning and dismantling process begins for the plant’s six reactors.

TEPCO is also developing systems to try to remove the most radioactive elements from the water.