NHK : Removing Spent Fuel (video)

November 6, 2013

No.4 reactor pool shown to media

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131106_35.html

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant has shown the media the pool for nuclear fuel units at the No.4 reactor. Work to remove the units will begin this month.

The upper part of the No.4 reactor building was badly damaged in March 2011 just after the massive earthquake.

The pool on the upper floor of the building contains 1,533 units, the largest single set in a pool at the plant. The number includes 1,331 spent fuel units still emitting high radiation. The Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to move them all to a different location.

On Wednesday, TEPCO officials allowed the media to see the pool.

Most of the debris that filled the 10-meter-square pool after the explosion has been removed.

Workers will use a crane to transfer the units to a container designed to block radiation. It will be filled with 22 units before being lowered to the ground and transported to a storage facility.

TEPCO plans to remove all the units by the end of next year.

The work is said to be the first milestone in a decommissioning project that's estimated to take 40 years.

See video : Removing spent fuel http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/newsline/201311062009.html

Nuclear Watch.