The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says a test retrieval of nuclear fuel debris from the No.2 reactor was suspended on Tuesday due to a camera problem.
The first attempt to remove molten fuel mixed with parts of the reactor structure began on September 10.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says work to extend the retrieval device inside the reactor containment vessel, and lower a tool on its tip to the bottom of the vessel via a cable was completed by Monday. It says the tool touched what is believed to be fuel debris.
Workers were scheduled to check the device’s operation and conditions inside the vessel on Tuesday.
But the work was suspended because images from two of the four cameras attached to the retrieval device could not be confirmed.
TEPCO had planned to grab the first several grams of debris early this week, but it remains unclear when work will resume as the utility tries to determine the cause and fix the problem.
It is estimated that there is a total of 880 tons of fuel debris in the No.1, 2 and 3 reactors, which suffered meltdowns in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. Removing the debris is considered the most challenging step in decommissioning the plant, due to extremely high levels of radiation.