Second part of reactor cover removed

November 10, 2014

TEPCO removes 2nd canopy panel covering Fukushima reactor building

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201411100047

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture--In preparation for clearing debris and eventually removing nuclear fuel from inside, Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Nov. 10 temporarily removed another panel from the canopy covering a damaged reactor building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The removal opened a large hole in the canopy covering the No. 1 reactor building. Debris inside the building were visible from the opening, which is 40 meters long and 14 meters wide, equivalent to one-third the size of the entire roof.

The first of the six canopy panels was removed on Oct. 31.

The utility has been spraying the inside of the reactor building with liquid anti-scattering resin since Oct. 22 to prevent radioactive materials from being stirred up during the dismantling work. The interior of the building will be checked throughout this month.

TEPCO also plans to keep a close eye on radioactivity levels inside the plant grounds and will notify local municipalities if any abnormalities are recorded.

The removed roof panels will be reinstalled as early as within this month, and their full-scale removal is expected to begin in March 2015.

The original roof of the No. 1 reactor building was blown off by a hydrogen explosion that occurred on March 12, 2011, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck, triggering the crisis at the nuclear plant. The canopy was installed in October 2011 to contain the spread of radioactive materials.

Another part of cover removed from reactor bldg.

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

Nov. 10, 2014 - Updated 02:55 UTC+1

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant removed the second panel from the cover of a reactor building on Monday morning.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is testing to see whether radioactive materials will spread from the building during removal work.

Workers used a remote-controlled crane to lift the second of 6 panels from the top of the No. 1 reactor building.

The first panel was removed last month.

Earlier, workers injected chemicals into holes made in the cover to prevent dust from spreading.

TEPCO says that so far, no monitoring device within the plant compound has detected anything unusual.

The utility says it will continue monitoring for about a month. If no problems are detected, the company plans to begin full-scale dismantling of the cover in March.

TEPCO says that after removing all the panels, it will begin removing debris from inside the No. 1 reactor building. The work is part of preparations for taking out about 400 units of nuclear fuel from a spent fuel storage pool.

TEPCO initially planned to dismantle the cover from July. But it postponed the operation after radioactive dust spread during the removal of debris from the No. 3 reactor building last year.