According to Japanese media reports, Tokyo electric power (tepco) recently announced that due to the ongoing troubles, the completion date of the chimney collapse project at the fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant has been extended from the original end of March 2020 to early May 2020.
The chimneys, which are common to units 1 and 2 of the fukushima nuclear power plant, were badly damaged in the March 11 earthquake and have been contaminated with radioactive material, according to reports. In addition, the chimney is 120 meters high. Considering the danger of collapse, tepco decided to conduct the collapse operation. After the collapse, the height of the chimney will be reduced to 60 meters.
Those in charge of the rout have also developed special remote-operated withdrawal equipment for the purpose, the report said. The collapse project began in August 2019, but due to frequent incidents such as excessive wear on the blade of the retracted device, the collapsed part has remained at 9 meters so far.
Tepco had suspended operations and revisited the project. After the discussion, tepco decided that it would be difficult to finish the rest of the collapse project before March 2020, so it postponed the completion date for nearly two months, and scheduled the collapse project to be completed in early May 2020.
Tepco said it would explain to the nuclear regulatory commission the method of the collapse and the improvement plan for the second order of operation, and resume the collapse operation within 12 months after the preparation work is completed.
