A robot inside the ruins of the nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan was able to deliver a tiny sample of melted nuclear fuel, marking a step towards the cleanup of the site. The sample, the size of a grain of rice, was secured in a container and will be analyzed in laboratories over the coming months. Plant officials hope that this data will help in planning a decommissioning strategy, developing necessary technology and robots, and understanding how the accident unfolded. While this first sample is a significant milestone, additional sampling missions will be required to gather more data for the cleanup process.
Despite years of probing since the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima plant, much about the highly radioactive interior of the site remains unknown. The recent sample retrieved by the robot was found to be less radioactive than expected, raising questions about whether it was truly melted fuel. Despite this, TEPCO officials are confident that the sample is indeed melted fuel. The robot, named Telesco, faced several delays during its mission, including assembly errors and camera failures. However, it was successful in clipping a sample from the surface of the melted fuel debris in the Unit 2 reactor’s containment vessel.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant lost its key cooling systems during an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, leading to meltdowns in three reactors. Currently, an estimated 880 tons of melted fuel remains in the reactors. The government and TEPCO have set a target of finishing the cleanup by 2051, which experts believe may be overly optimistic. It is not yet clear how the fuel debris will be fully removed or disposed of in the long term. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi noted some delays but assured that they will not impact the overall decommissioning process.
The safe removal of the melted fuel sample from the reactor marks a significant achievement in the ongoing cleanup efforts at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The data gathered from this sample will be crucial in understanding the site’s conditions and developing a thorough decommissioning strategy. Additional sampling missions will be necessary to collect more data and plan for the complete cleanup. Despite obstacles faced by the robot during its mission, the successful retrieval of the sample demonstrates progress in the long and challenging process of decommissioning the plant and safely disposing of the radioactive material.
