A difficult operation to remove a small amount of radioactive debris from Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant began yesterday, after technical issues suspended an earlier attempt.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) in a statement said that its “pilot extraction operation” had started.
It would take about two weeks, the company said.
Photo: Tokyo Electric Power Co via AP
The tiny sample would be studied for clues about conditions inside the reactors — a crucial step toward decommissioning the nuclear power plant.
About 880 tonnes of extremely hazardous material remain 13 years after a tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents.
Removing the debris from the reactors is regarded as the most daunting challenge in the decades-long decommissioning project.
“The government would like to urge TEPCO to respond with an even higher sense of urgency as we enter the most difficult work phase, which will be the basis for decommissioning the plant,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters yesterday.
TEPCO originally planned to start its first trial removal on Aug. 22, aiming to collect just 3g for analysis — if the extraction process was successful — but the company had to stop the work at a preliminary stage after detecting a problem involving the installation of the necessary equipment.
Three of the plant’s six reactors were operating when the tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, sending them into meltdown.
The debris within has radiation levels so high that TEPCO had to develop specialized robots able to function inside.
TEPCO deployed two mini-drones and a “snake-shaped robot” into one of the three nuclear reactors in February, as part of the preparations for the removal task.
Separately, last year Japan began releasing treated wastewater from the plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking a diplomatic row with China and Russia. Both nations have banned Japanese seafood imports, although Tokyo insists the discharge is safe, a view backed by the UN atomic agency.
Meanwhile, in a TEPCO initiative to promote food from the Fukushima area, swanky London department store Harrods on Saturday began selling peaches that were grown in the region.
Fukushima peaches are renowned for their juicy, sweet taste — but they are not cheap, with one box of three reportedly going for ￡80 (US$105).
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS