Tokio. The operator of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant announced Monday that it will send a probe into a crippled reactor this week to conduct a test to remove radioactive waste.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is seeking to collect a tiny sample of the 880 tons of radioactive waste that may have been found inside the reactors of the nuclear power plant that was hit by the tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The company estimates that it will take a week for the probe to reach the radioactive waste. It will return in September with the sample, which will be studied to obtain clues about the state of the reactors and their dangerous contents, a crucial stage in view of the closure of the nuclear power plant.
The closure of a power plant is intended to ensure that dismantling and waste management can be carried out safely and efficiently, without harmful effects on the environment.
Removing the waste is the most important challenge facing the plant’s closure project. The massive decontamination and dismantling works will take decades.
Three of Fukushima’s six reactors were operating when the tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, destroying cooling systems in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
At three units at the Fukushima plant, fuel and other materials melted and solidified into highly radioactive “fuel waste.”
Almost a year ago, Japan began dumping waste water from the damaged plant into the Pacific Ocean, with the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The move triggered a diplomatic row with China and Russia, which banned imports of seafood, even though Japan insists the spill poses no danger.
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– 2024-08-25 11:20:14
