Fukushima: Dangerous operation of removing fuel rods beginsTokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of Japan’s defunct Fukushima nuclear plant, has started removing fuel rods from the storage pool near the roof of the plant’s fourth reactor that suffered a series of hydrogen explosions. The company said it will take about two days to remove the first 22 fuel rod assemblies at Unit 4 reactor building. During the one-year operation, TEPCO will remove more than 1,500 spent fuel rods assemblies from a damaged cooling pool located 18 meters above ground and with radiation thousands of times higher than normal, Voice of Russia reported. Months of repair work and planning preceded the removal process, which began on Monday 16 November. According to BBC News, TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono called the operation "a very important process in moving ahead with the plant's decommissioning".
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