Right on schedule and just in time for Christmas, TEPCO succeeded in transferring all the fuel out of the spent-fuel pool of Reactor 4. Much still remains to be done, but this is good news.

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*The removal of the spent fuel assemblies was completed on November 5th,201The removal operation will continue to be performed in a safe and measured manner until the last fuel assembly has been removed and transferred to the common pool.

The new fuel removal has not progressed since Nov. 5th.

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Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool over 87% cleared.

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• Breakdown of transferred assemblies by kind
  Spent fuel   1276   assemblies/1,331 assemblies
  Unirradiated (New) fuel     22 assemblies/ 202 assemblies
• Number of times of cask transportation:
  59 times

The fuel removal work was resumed on September 4, 2014, which had been suspended
since July 1, 2014 due to the annual inspection of ceiling crane.
＊The radiation dose from new (unirradiated) fuel is small enough to handle by hand.

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Breakdown of transferred assemblies by kind

• Spent fuel
  • 1166 assemblies/1,331 assemblies
• Unirradiated
  • New fuel22 assemblies/ 202 assemblies
• Number of times of cask transportation: 54 timesas of June.30,2014

＊The fuel removal work is stopped from July 1 to earlySeptember of 2014 due to annual ceiling crane checkup

via TEPCO : Decommissioning Plan of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power.

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Breakdown of transferred assemblies by kind

• Spent fuel                                 1100 assemblies/1,331 assemblies
• Unirradiated New fuel         22 assemblies/ 202 assemblies
• Number of times of cask transportation: 51 times  as of June 23, 2014

via TEPCO : Decommissioning Plan of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power.

Tags: Fukushima

TEPCO’S Fuel Removal from Unit 4 website has at long last been updated (mouse-tip to the ever-alert EX-SKF). EX-SKF blogs about SFP for reactor #3: they have begun to clear away debris, including the Fuel Handling Machine which was wrecked in the earthquake/tsunami.

814 out of 1533 fuel assemblies moved is now over half-way (53%, with another update due tomorrow).

EX-SKF also has a post about a local citizens group (called Umi-Labo) in Fukushima who recently hired a boat and approached the #1 and #2 NPPs from the sea and took samples of sea-water and the sea-bed and tested them for radiation. There is a  YouTube video report  and an article on the English-language Mainichi newspaper website.

• Breakdown of transferred assemblies by kind
  • Spent fuel     792 assemblies/1,331 assemblies
  • Unirradiated New fuel22 assemblies/ 202 assemblies
• Number of times of cask transportation:  37 times as of May.7,2014

Completion status of transfer will be updated every Monday.If the holiday falls on a Monday, it will be updated on the next working day

via TEPCO : Decommissioning Plan of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power.

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[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnpAWKfX7Qc’]

This was all over the news this cold Saturday morning (temp was down to 13 degrees C inside!). Buried in a few obscure news sources was the fact that part of this remarkable resurrection was due to a massive donation by the government of Kuwait about a year ago (details below).

MIYAKO, Iwate Prefecture–A railway that was thrown out of action by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster will be back to full strength this spring.

Sanriku Railway Co. is to reopen the last two sections of the two lines that have remained out of service. These are the 15-kilometer section between Kamaishi and Yoshihama stations on the South-Rias Line, and the 10.5-km section between Tanohata and Omoto stations on the North-Rias Line. They will reopen on April 5 and 6, respectively.

The Sanriku Railway has 107.6 km of track that traverses scenic coastal routes in Iwate Prefecture.

The lines were badly damaged in the disaster. Station buildings and [5.8 km] sections of [the 108 km] rail track were swept out to sea by the tsunami. The railway was forced to suspend all its train services immediately after the March 11 disaster, but five days later it resumed partial operations free of charge to help lift the spirits of survivors.

via Famed Sanriku Railway soon back to pre-disaster operations – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun.

(from Wikipedia’s Sanriku page)

Nothing in there about Kuwait’s donation, but on the same day, the Japan Times had a article about Fukushima titled “Expressing thanks in Paris, Fukushima officials vow disaster reconstruction” and tucked away right at the end was this:

Sanriku Railway has also purchased five new train cars with financial aid from the government of Kuwait.

How much aid? From a 27 Feb. 2013 article: Read the rest of this entry »

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移送燃料の種類（使用済：528体／1331体、新燃料：22体／202体） キャスクの輸送回数　25回更新日：2014年3月31日

via 福島第一原子力発電所４号機からの燃料取り出しの進捗状況｜東京電力.

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