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according to a report by the japan broadcasting corporation (nhk) on the 10th, on the morning of the 10th local time, tokyo electric power company announced that it had restarted the experimental work of removing nuclear fuel fragments from unit 2 of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant.

on march 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred in the sea near fukushima prefecture, japan, triggering a massive tsunami and causing a major nuclear leak accident. the cores of units 1 to 3 of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant melted, and the melted nuclear fuel and surrounding materials formed highly radioactive nuclear fuel fragments.

it is estimated that there are about 880 tons of nuclear fuel fragments in units 1 to 3 of the fukushima nuclear power plant, which still have extremely strong radiation levels and are difficult to access. therefore, the work of removing the nuclear fuel fragments is considered the "biggest challenge" in the decommissioning of the fukushima nuclear power plant.

on august 22, local time, tepco had planned to start with the no. 2 unit, the only unit that did not experience a hydrogen explosion, and attempt to initiate the nuclear fuel debris removal test for the first time. however, due to errors in the installation of the removal equipment, tepco ultimately decided to postpone the removal work.

after taking measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again, tepco announced on september 10, local time, that it had restarted the work of pushing the retrieval equipment into the containment at around 6:30 a.m., and at 7:20 a.m., inserted the retrieval equipment into the pipe leading to the inside of the containment, and began experimental work on retrieving nuclear fuel fragments.

according to the plan, tepco will use a tubular retrieval device to extend a robotic arm to grab a few grams of debris from the bottom of the containment for analysis, and most of the work will be done remotely. tepco said that in view of previous mistakes, this work will carefully monitor various situations, so even if everything goes well, it will take about two weeks to complete the work.

the japanese government and tepco said the experimental retrieval work will obtain data on the nature and condition of nuclear fuel fragments, which is crucial for future decommissioning of nuclear power plants, including research on methods to fully recover nuclear fuel fragments.

it is understood that the recovery of the nuclear fuel debris from fukushima was originally scheduled to start in 2021, but has been postponed for three years due to safety and other reasons. this work is directly related to whether the fukushima nuclear power plant can be successfully scrapped. since this nuclear fuel debris removal work is the first attempt in 13 and a half years since the accident, it has attracted much attention.

according to a previous report by japan's sankei shimbun, the recycling method and schedule for the no. 1 and no. 3 reactors are currently uncertain, and it is judged that "the goal proposed by the government and tokyo electric power company to complete the project by 2051 is difficult to achieve." as of january 2024, the japanese government has invested 7.8 billion yen (about 387 million yuan) in the development of robotic arms and other equipment, but there has been no progress in recycling nuclear debris.

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