Further protection for Fukushima fuel pool

A new cover has been installed over the used fuel pool of unit 4 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The cover will provide additional protection from the weather and prevent debris from the roof of the reactor building falling into the pool.

A new cover has been installed over the used fuel pool of unit 4 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The cover will provide additional protection from the weather and prevent debris from the roof of the reactor building falling into the pool.

The steel platform in place over the used fuel pool of unit 4 (Image: Tepco)

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) earlier placed a floating protective sheet on the surface of the fuel pool of unit 4 to help stop debris dropping into it. However, it has now completed installation of a steel protective platform over the pool.

Weighing some 60 tonnes and measuring about 11 metres by 13.7 metres, the platform was first assembled on the ground before being installed using large heavy machinery. The new platform is being used in conjunction with the existing floating cover.

Tepco said that, in addition to preventing debris falling into the pool, the new cover would "ensure a higher level of safety."

A platform has already been installed adjacent to the used fuel pool to support the machinery that will be used to remove an area of the damage reactor building's upper walls and roof. The new cover will help prevent material from falling into the pool during operations to dismantle this part of the building.

The new platform will also provide further protection against the weather to the use fuel pool. The summer typhoon season has started in Japan and earlier this week typhoon Guchol struck the main island of Honshu but passed north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News