First batch of nuclear fuel rods removed from reactor in Fukushima

The rods will be moved and installed at a safer facility. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, says the batch of 22 unused fuel assemblies was transferred by a trailer to a safer storage pool. Each assembly contains 50 to 70 fuel rods. The removal process lasted four days, after workers began removing fuel rods from the Number-4 reactor building on Monday.

The risky task was a crucial step towards cleaning up and decommissioning the northeastern Japanese plant that was crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. TEPCO says it will review the removal process before starting on the next batch. In total, the company must remove more than 15-hundred potentially damaged assemblies from the unstable reactor. It estimates that removing the damaged assemblies from reactor Number-4 alone will take a year.