The operator of Japan's destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October. During the demonstration at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' shipyard in Kobe, western Japan, where the robot has been developed, a device equipped with tongs slowly descended from the telescopic pipe to a heap of gravel and picked up a granule.
A team of experts from the U.N. nuclear agency inspected the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday for a review of its discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific. The International Atomic Energy Agency inspection was part of a four-day visit to Japan that started Tuesday, its second since the water discharge began last August despite strong protests from fishing groups and neighboring China, which has banned Japanese seafood. The IAEA team will issue a report later.
The world is witnessing a nuclear renaissance as Tepco loads fuel rods into the world's largest nuclear power plant, signaling the potential for clean and reliable electricity generation.