In Tokyo, a remote-controlled robot began its second mission on Tuesday to retrieve small pieces of melted fuel debris from inside a damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was devastated by a tsunami 14 years ago. The goal of this mission, following a previous debris retrieval in November, is to advance the technology and robotics necessary for a larger cleanup operation at the plant, which was severely damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The robot, named “Telesco,” features extendable arms equipped with cameras and a gripping tool for handling radioactive debris. It successfully entered the primary containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor on Tuesday, as reported by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. This time, the company intends to guide the robot deeper into the vessel to collect a sample from an area closer to the center where more melted fuel is suspected to have accumulated.
The process of reaching the targeted area is expected to take several days as the robot advances with a device resembling a fishing rod, carrying a gripping tool and camera. Despite encountering some challenges during the initial sample retrieval in November, this mission was a crucial step towards the complex decommissioning process, which involves handling approximately 880 tons of melted nuclear fuel mixed with damaged internal structures and other debris across the three reactors that were compromised in 2011.
Following the collection of samples through various robotic missions, experts will devise a comprehensive strategy to extract melted fuel, starting with the No. 3 reactor in the 2030s. The experts emphasize that the immense task of decommissioning the plant is just commencing, and the entire process could extend over a century.
