Decommissioning works are underway at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant as nearly nine years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake wrecked the area. The company is cleaning up rubble on the reactor buildings in preparation for removing spent fuel debris while treating the contaminated water.

Japanese government announced the revised time line of the decommissioning works in December 2019 which was the first revision since September 2017. As it maintains the targeted completion period of 30-40 years, the debris removal at No.1-6 Reactors is scheduled to be finished in 2031 and construction of reactor covers in around 2023. Works are to begin at No.1 Reactor in 2027-28 and at No.2 in 2024-26. As No.5 and 6 Reactors did not suffer from severe damages and the spent fuel removal at No.4 has been completed, the company is implementing the works at No.1-3 in a full swing.

The Green Area where workers allowed to wear regular uniforms increased to 96% of the whole area. In some part, masks or gloves are not necessary anymore. However, the highly radioactive areas still remain. The outside workers wear protective vests made of tungsten.

Beside the reactor buildings No.1 and 2, a 120-meter exhaust tower has been dismantled since August 2019. A crane with an attachment remotely controlled 250 meters away from the site is being used to avoid radiation exposure to workers.
(2020/02/12)