TOKYO: Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. on Monday resumed experimental work to remove nuclear fuel debris from the No. 2 reactor at its meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

The work had been suspended for more than a month mainly due to the need to replace two glitch-hit cameras attached to a debris-removal device.

In the trial, collecting the debris from the reactor is expected to take about two weeks. If the attempt ends in success, the process of decommissioning the plant will enter a new phase.

TEPCO is slated to insert a remotely operated telescopic-type device, shaped like a fishing rod, into the reactor containment vessel to collect up to about 3 grams of debris from the bottom of the vessel.

The collected debris will be analyzed at a facility of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

The work first began on Sept. 10 but was halted on Sept. 17 after the two cameras on the tip of the removal device stopped working. The cameras were manually replaced with new ones earlier this month.

A total of about 880 tons of debris, a mixture of melted fuel and reactor structures, is estimated to be left in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors of the plant. The condition of the debris and other details are unknown.

Due to extremely high radiation levels, the work to remove the debris is viewed as the most difficult part of the process of decommissioning the plant, which was crippled by the March 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami.

TEPCO had initially planned to start the experimental work in 2021, but it postponed the plan due mainly to delays in the development of necessary devices overseas and other issues in preparation work.

In August this year, TEPCO attempted to start the removal work, about three years behind schedule. But the process was halted as pipes to be attached to the debris-removal device were found to have been arranged in the wrong order during preparation work. The removal work was later started but was suspended due the camera glitch.

JIJI Press