Tokyo Electric Power Company has examined two unused fuel assemblies from the fuel storage pool at unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant and found no significant damage. A further 200 unused assemblies remain in the pool, alongside over 1300 which have been used.
Fuel racks in the pool of Fukushima Daiichi 3 appear undamaged, despite impact by debris including large parts of a 35-tonne fuel handling machine over 18 months ago.
An investigation is underway into the internal conditions of the primary containment vessel of the reactor at unit 1 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company said that the water level in the vessel has been found to be higher than previously estimated..jpg "Fukushima Daiichi 3 fuel pond debris, November 2011 and September 2012 (84x48)")
A steel beam slipped into the fuel pond of Fukushima Daiichi 3 during an operation to remove tonnes of debris. Engineers confirmed by inspection that no damage was caused.
_615x160.jpg)
_64x48.jpg "Fukushima greenlings (Tepco) 64x48")
Sampling of aquatic animals near the Fukushima Daiichi site has revealed various levels of contamination - and focused attention on one outlying result..jpg "Fukushima evacuation status, 10 August 2012 (48x66)")
Thousands of Naraha residents can return to homes and businesses during daylight hours now that the Fukushima municipality's evacuation order has been lifted._615x160.jpg)
_36x48.jpg "Fukushima Daiichi 4 containment head removal, 10 August 2012 (Tepco) 36x48")
Tepco's latest step in decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi has been to remove unit 4's containment vessel head from storage on the service floor. The lift is a milestone in a plan to remove nuclear fuel from the building..jpg "Fukushima evacuation status, 17 July 2012 (60x48)")
Another substantial part of the evacuation area in Fukushima prefecture has been recategorised, with most of Iitate village subject to conditional returns from tomorrow.