Installation of Unit 3 fuel removal cover dome roof at Fukushima Daiichi

Tokyo Electric Power Co. shows its installation work to cover the upper part of the No. 3 nuclear reactor building that was blown off by the March 2011 hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

 

OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture–Tokyo Electric Power Co. showed reporters its progress in installing a new roof above Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant’s No. 3 reactor building on Aug. 2, ahead of work to remove spent nuclear fuel from a storage pool.

The company demonstrated how it is carrying out the work, which is necessary because the upper section of the reactor building was blown off in a hydrogen explosion in the nuclear disaster at the plant in March 2011.

The roof project marks a step toward removing nuclear fuel assemblies in the spent nuclear fuel storage pool in the building.

A photograph taken from an Asahi Shimbun helicopter shows a section of the half-tubular shaped roof being installed over the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Aug. 2.

 

To prevent the spread of radioactive material, TEPCO started to set up the half-tubular shaped cover to shield the damaged reactor building at the end of last month.

A section of the roof is lifted by a crane to place it on top of the No. 3 nuclear reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Aug. 2.

 

An artist’s rendition of the completed roof that will shield the upper part of the No. 3 nuclear reactor building that was blown off in the March 2011 hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

 

The 566 nuclear fuel assemblies currently lying in the pool will become a significant risk if another major disaster strikes the area.

TEPCO is expected to start removing the fuel from around mid-fiscal 2018.

Early on Aug. 2, part of the roof measuring around 17 meters high and weighing 37 tons was lifted to the top floor of the reactor building with a large crane.

Workers connected the new part of the cover to another section that had been installed at the end of July, completing one eighth of the roof. When finished, it will be about 60 meters long.

Dedicated removal machines are needed to retrieve the fuel from the storage pool. The machines that had been used at the plant prior to the accident were removed because they were severely damaged by the hydrogen explosion.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201708020046.html

Source : Tepco

2017.7.31 Installation of Unit 3 fuel removal cover dome roof at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/library/archive-e.html?video_uuid=z2v3h93c&catid=61785

Installation of Unit 3 spent fuel removal cover dome roof at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (On-site demonstration) Photos taken on: Aug 2, 2017

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/library/archive-e.html?video_uuid=w8a3j0h4&catid=69631

August 3, 2017 - Posted by dunrenard | Fukushima 2017 | Fukushima Daiichi, New Roof, Reactor 3