Work Begins Toward Dismantling Building Cover At Fukushima Plant

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN - OCT. 23: The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant began preparatory work to dismantle the No. 1 reactor building's cover as a first step toward removing melted fuel on Wednesday, October 22. The cover shrouding the building, damaged by a hydrogen explosion in the 2011 nuclear crisis, was installed following the accident to keep radioactive materials from dispersing. Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to finish removing the cover around March 2016. It will then aim to begin cleaning up the debris from the hydrogen explosion and removing 392 spent fuel stored in a pool in the building by the end of March 2018. It is only the first step in a 30-40-year reactor decommissioning process. On Wednesday morning, TEPCO started making holes in the roof of the building cover in order to insert antidispersal agents to prevent radioactive dust from being scattered. The actual dismantling of the cover will start in March 2015, the utility said.