Japan begins trial disposal of nuclear waste from Fukushima reactor

Tokyo: The operator of the damaged Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima announced on Monday that it would send a probe into the interior of a battered reactor this week to remove radioactive residues on a trial basis.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) wants to recover a tiny sample of the estimated 880 tons of radioactive debris that are believed to be in the reactors of the nuclear power plant affected by the tsunami.

The sample will be examined to obtain clues about the condition of the reactor's interior and its dangerous contents – a crucial step towards decommissioning the power plant.

“We will proceed with caution and give safety the highest priority,” a Tepco representative said at a press conference on Monday.

The radiation levels in the rubble are so high that Tepco had to develop special robots that can withstand this radiation and work inside.

Its removal was long considered the greatest challenge in the decades-long project to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Three of the six reactors in Fukushima were in operation when the tsunami struck on March 11, 2011. The cooling systems were destroyed and a core meltdown occurred. It was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

In three blocks of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, fuel and other materials melted and then solidified into highly radioactive “fuel debris”.

In February, Tepco deployed two mini-drones and a “snake-shaped robot” in one of the three nuclear reactors in preparation for the evacuation operation.

The latest probe, equipped with a robotic arm, is expected to take about a week to reach the radioactive remains inside the reactor and is expected to resurface with the sample next month.

Japan began discharging wastewater from the damaged power plant into the Pacific Ocean almost a year ago.

The move sparked a diplomatic row with China and Russia, both of which have imposed a ban on seafood imports. But Japan insists that the discharge of the oil is safe – a view supported by the United Nations nuclear agency.