The operator of the Fukushima plant begins to extract fuel from the melt reactor

TOKYO – For the first time, the operator of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant is fueling one of the three reactors that melted during the 2011 disaster, a milestone in the plant's dismantling process, which lasted several years. decades.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced Monday that the workers had begun to withdraw the first of the 566 fuel units stored in the pool of unit 3. The fuel units in the pool are not closed and their transfer into a safer place is crucial to avoid a disaster in case of a new earthquake. .

TEPCO indicates that the removal of Unit 3 would take two years, followed by the other two reactors.

The step ahead is to remove the molten fuel inside the reactors, but the details are largely unknown.