Tokyo Electric Power : Giant vacuum cleaner used to remove radioactive debris in Fukushima

Tokyo, Jun 1 (EFE).- The operator of the plagued Fukushima nuclear plant has deployed a large device similar to a vacuum cleaner to clean up radioactive debris scattered over the plant’s Reactor 1, the company explained to Efe.

Technicians of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Monday started using the apparatus, 13 meters high and 5 meters wide, which is operated through a crane and is capable of safely absorbing objects of up to 20 kilograms.

The top floor was rocked by an explosion caused by hydrogen concentration one day after being hit by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan on Mar. 11, 2011.

The blast destroyed the roof of the plant, which remains covered with highly contaminated pieces of debris – from cement to metal fragments – and this will hinder the complicated process of removing the molten fuel inside the reactor vessel.

TEPCO plans to finish this operation in July and then proceed to remove larger debris.

According to the company’s roadmap, the withdrawal of molten nuclear fuel inside Reactor 1 is to be done within about four years.

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986. Its resultant emissions and radioactive discharges still keep thousands of people who lived near the plant out of the area and have severely affected agriculture, livestock and local fishing.

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June 3, 2016 - Posted by dunrenard | Fukushima 2016 | Fukushima Daiichi, Radioactive Debris, Tepco, Vacuum Cleaner