Plans to remove hundreds of tonnes of radioactive debris from the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP, which suffered core melt downs in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, has been delayed until at least 2037, according to owner/operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco).
Some 880 tonnes of hazardous material remain inside the reactors and preparatory work needed to start retrieval is expected to take 12-15 years, Tepco chief decommissioning officer Akira Ono told reporters.
The new timeline could undermine previously stated goals by Tepco and the government to declare the Fukushima plant decommissioned by 2051. However, Tepco insisted that the deadline is achievable although it would be “tough”. Ono noted: “There is no need to abandon the target,” adding it is Tepco’s “responsibility” to “figure out how to meet it”.
Samples of melted fuel weighing less than a gram each were retrieved from unit 2 reactor in November 2024 and April 2025. After further small missions by robots to gather samples, experts will determine a larger-scale method for removing melted fuel, initially at the unit 3 reactor.
In preparation for this, the Nuclear Damage Compensation & Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF) established a Sub-Committee for the Evaluation of Fuel Debris Retrieval Methods” in 2023 to comprehensively assess retrieval methods while prioritising safety. In March 2024 the Sub-Committee compiled a report containing recommendations for retrieval method selection. Tepco has been considering fuel debris retrieval method designs from Unit 3 based on this report and earlier in July submitted its response to the Sub-Committee on design deliberation for fuel debris retrieval from Unit 3.
Tepco noted that fuel debris retrieval is an extremely vital task for moving forward with decommissioning not only because it will reduce risks at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP but also because it presents unprecedented technological challenges. Tepco said it will “proceed with the difficult tasks for the fuel debris retrieval step by step while prioritising safety as it aims to finish decommissioning 30~40 years, as laid out in the Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap, and fully complete the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station”.
“Realistically, we are aware of the difficulty (to achieve the target) but we will not drop the goal just yet, as we still don’t have a clear work schedule after the full-scale removal begins,” said Akira Ono.
In March 2024, Tepco released images taken by the miniature drones sent deep into a badly damaged unit 1 reactor showing displaced control equipment and misshapen materials. The photos were the first from inside the main structural support called the pedestal in the reactor’s primary containment vessel, an area directly under the reactor’s core.
Meanwhile Tepco has submitted a plan to demolish a building next to the unit 3 reactor to make way for the removal of radioactive fuel debris, The Mainichi reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. Knocking down the structure – a radioactive waste disposal building – is expected to be time-consuming and could potentially hindering decommissioning plans. The government and Tepco hope to begin retrieving melted fuel from the reactors in the early 2030s.
The disposal building contains storage tanks of resin used to purify water from the reactor cooling process that must be analysed for radioactivity before demolition. Additional space is also needed to store the waste currently held in the structure.
At the same time, Tepco has submitted an alternative proposal to NDF to remove the debris without demolishing the building. A decision is expected shortly.
