Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report 2013

Cask containing 22 fuel assemblies from Unit 4 has arrived at the common pool to be stored more safely in an undamaged building.

Fukushima, Japan, Nov. 21, 2013 - TEPCO announced today that the cask containing 22 fuel assemblies was safely transported from the Unit 4 reactor building to the nearby common pool building at Fukushima Daiichi NPS.

The fuel assemblies were loaded into the cask from November 18 to 19. Following this, the cask was decontaminated, and after preparation, transported today, with the trailer arriving at the common pool building at 1:20PM. Here, the fuel assemblies will be stored for the longer term inside an undamaged building.

The work to extract the fuel from the Unit 4 spent fuel pool will shortly pause for a scheduled safety review of procedures and methods. Any necessary refinements will be implemented in the next rounds of extractions. The removal of all fuel inside the Unit 4 spent fuel pool is planned to take until the end of 2014.

Video explaining the removal process/Dr. Klein's comments and material explaining an overview of the task:
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/en/date/2013/201310-e/131030-02e.html

The encompassing safety measures towards the assumed risks of the task:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2013/images/handouts_131115_03-e.pdf (PDF 48.4KB)

President Hirose's comments regarding the start of fuel removal:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html

TEPCO, Inc. is a provider of electricity to the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo and Yokohama. The company is headquartered in Tokyo. For more information, please go to http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html.