Fukushima: Removal of nuclear fuel rods from damaged reactor building begins

Workers at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pool near one of the three reactors that suffered meltdowns eight years ago. The fuel rods stored in unit No 3’s cooling pool were not damaged in the 2011 disaster, when a powerful earthquake and tsunami knocked out Fukushima Daiichi’s backup power supply and triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, 25 years earlier. The removal of the fuel rods was delayed by more than four years due to equipment malfunctions, high radiation levels in the reactor building and radioactive debris from a hydrogen explosion that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the triple meltdown.

Source: www.theguardian.com