No.3 reactor: Metal grating is missing

July 20, 2017

Scaffolding at No.3 Fukushima reactor missing

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20170720_01/

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant says the metal scaffolding right below the damaged No.3 reactor appears to have gone missing after the 2011 disaster.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, started a full-scale robotic probe into the containment vessel on Wednesday.

In the 2011 accident, most of the nuclear fuel in the No.3 reactor is believed to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel that covers the reactor. The nuclear fuel is thought to lie within 6-meter-deep water that was injected for cooling.

TEPCO and the Japanese government plan to remove the nuclear fuel debris as part of decommissioning of the reactor. They are trying to locate the debris.

They used a new underwater robot equipped with cameras for Wednesday's probe. It is 30 centimeters long and 13 centimeters wide.

The robot was unable to obtain an image of the metal grating which was right below the reactor before the disaster.

TEPCO officials say the grating apparently fell along with the molten fuel.

They told reporters that they could not determine where the nuclear fuel debris is. But they said they could identify a path that might lead to areas where the debris is believed to lie.