An extendable robotic started on Tuesday a two-week mission to retrieve the primary pattern of melted gas particles from inside one in every of three broken reactors on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant.
Extremely radioactive gas and different supplies within the reactors melted when a large earthquake and tsunami in 2011 broken the plant’s cooling methods.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings, has beforehand used small robots to look at the within of the reactors, however that is the primary time for it to gather a pattern of the melted particles in what’s going to mark the beginning of essentially the most difficult a part of the plant’s decadeslong decommissioning.
The mission was initially scheduled to start on Aug. 22 however was suspended when employees seen that 5 1.5-meter (5-foot) pipes for use to push the robotic into the reactor had been organized within the fallacious order, TEPCO stated.
The tools was reassembled in the appropriate order for Tuesday’s try, the corporate stated.
As soon as contained in the reactor vessel, the robotic is operated remotely from a safer location.
The robotic, nicknamed “telesco,” can lengthen as much as about 22 meters (72 toes), together with the pipes pushing it from behind, to achieve the melted gas mound, the place it should use tongs to gather a fraction measuring lower than 3 grams (0.1 ounce). It’s anticipated to take about two weeks to acquire the fragment.
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On this picture launched by Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings (TEPCO), monitoring employees rearrange the push-in pipes, on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An extendable robotic started on Tuesday a two-week mission to retrieve the primary pattern of melted gas particles from inside one in every of three broken reactors on the nuclear energy plant.Credit score: Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings through AP
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Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings, also referred to as TEPCO, the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant, reveals a robotic for use to retrieve particles on the energy plant in Kobe, western Japan, Might 28, 2024. Credit score: Kyodo Information through AP, File
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On this picture launched by Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings (TEPCO), TEPCO executives observe plant officers making ultimate procedural checks from an operation room to observe and distant management an extendable robotic, at Fukjushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. Credit score: Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings through AP
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On this picture launched by Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings (TEPCO), monitoring employees rearrange the push-in pipes into the appropriate order, at Fukjushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. Credit score: Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings through AP
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This picture exhibits the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, on Aug. 22, 2024. Credit score: Kyodo Information through AP
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This picture exhibits the Unit 2 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, on Aug. 22, 2024. Credit score: Kyodo Information through AP
An estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive molten gas stays within the three reactors.
Chief authorities spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi famous that the mission marked the beginning of essentially the most tough section of the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup. “The government will firmly and responsibly tackle the decommissioning until the very end,” he stated.
The federal government and TEPCO have set a 30- to 40-year goal for the cleanup, regardless of criticism it’s unrealistic. No particular plans for the total removing of the melted gas particles or its storage have been determined.
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A robotic has begun a 2-week mission to retrieve melted gas from the broken Fukushima nuclear plant (2024, September 10)
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