The last week at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan saw a small fire on the grounds and encouraging news at unit 4, where Tokyo Electric Power Co. hopes to eventually remove fuel from its spent fuel pool.
Recent developments at the nuclear plant blacked out by last year’s earthquake and tsunami include:
TEPCO: No Obstacles Seen in Removal of Unit 4 Spent Fuel
On Thursday Kyodo News quoted a TEPCO spokesman as saying recent camera surveys turned up rubble and sand inside unit 4’s spent fuel pool but nothing that would preclude efforts to remove its fuel. He said the debris looked like it can be removed with an underwater vacuum device and other equipment.
The pool houses 1,331 fuel assemblies that TEPCO hopes to move to the plant’s shared spent fuel pool, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Welding Starts Small Fire
On Wednesday morning, a contractor welding fire extinguishing equipment outside units 5 and 6 accidentally started a fire near an oil tank on plant grounds, TEPCO reported in a release. Sparks started a 9-square-meter fire that workers extinguished within minutes. No one was injured.
TEPCO Seeks additional $8.4 billion to $10.8 billion for Compensation
Citing unnamed sources, the Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that TEPCO plans to ask the Japanese government for additional money to cover new compensation guidelines. The company is expected to seek an additional $8.4 billion to $10.8 billion as the entities set up to distribute the money continue to hammer out rules for paying claims. If TEPCO receives the money, it will bring the total amount of government assistance for compensation to more than $24 billion. Among the claimants, the Asahi reported, the new guidelines will grant about $73,000 to each evacuee who is not able to return home for at least five years, in addition to the value of his or her property. TEPCO has assumed 20,000 to 30,000 people will fall into that category, hailing from areas where annual radiation doses exceed 50 millisieverts.