Press Releases 2013

Due to the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake which occurred on March 11, 2011, TEPCO's facilities including our nuclear power stations have been severely damaged. We deeply apologize for the anxiety and inconvenience caused.
With regard to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on April 17, 2011, we have compiled the roadmap towards restoration from the accident and on July 19 we accomplished the Step1 target "Radiation dose is in steady decline". Then on December 16 we confirmed the accomplishment of the Step 2 target "Release of radioactive materials is under control and radiation doses are being significantly held down".
In addition, on December 21, 2011, we have compiled the "Mid-to-long-Term Roadmap toward the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units 1-4, TEPCO".
In addition to the maintenance of the plant's stable condition, we will implement Mid-to-Long Term countermeasures towards the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units 1-4 to enable evacuees to return to their homes as soon as possible and reduce the anxiety of the people in Fukushima and the whole nation as soon as possible.

Below is the status of TEPCO's nuclear power stations (Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini).

* The updates are underlined.

[Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station]
·Unit 1 to 4: Abolishment (April 19, 2012)
·Unit 5 to 6: Outage due to regular inspections before the earthquake

-At around 1:00 PM on February 6, when removing the steel truss debris remaining in the upper part of Unit 3 spent fuel pool, the steel truss debris broke into two pieces while being lifted up by two oil pressure forks. Though the truss debris broken into two pieces was being grabbed by the pressure forks, one of the pieces remained in the spent fuel pool. At 2:06 PM on the same day, the two pieces of truss debris were moved to the south side of the yard of Unit 3 Reactor Building with oil pressure forks. Later, the debris assumed to be the fuel handling machine mast* which was present before the steel truss removal was found to be missing in the image taken after the removal work. On February 7, we judged that there is a possibility that the missing debris has sunk into the spent fuel pool at around 1:00 PM. Once the preparation is complete, we will investigate the condition of the sunken debris when we perform investigation of the inside of the spent fuel pool utilizing an underwater camera. The results of radioactivity density analysis of the spent fuel pool water performed on February 5 and 7 were equivalent.

[Results obtained on February 8]
Cesium 134: 5.0x10²Bq/cm³
Cesium 137: 9.3x10²Bq/cm³
Iodine 131: Below the detection limit (6.8x10⁰Bq/cm³)

[Results obtained on February 7]
Cesium 134: 5.3x10²Bq/cm³
Cesium 137: 9.6x10²Bq/cm³
Iodine 131: Below the detection limit (7.4x10⁰Bq/cm³)

[Results obtained on February 5]
Cesium 134: 5.0x10²Bq/cm³
Cesium 137: 9.0x10²Bq/cm³
Iodine 131: Below the detection limit (6.7x10⁰Bq/cm³)

No significant change has been found with the spent fuel pool water level and the monitoring post data.

*Fuel handling machine mast: Extendable pole used to lift the grip up and down when moving the fuel assemblies (Length: Approx. 5-23m, Weight: Approx. 1.5 tons)

[Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station]
·Unit 1 to 4: Shutdown due to the earthquake.

* Revised past progress

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