TOKYO, October 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Fukushima nuclear plant operator TEPCO suspended works on removing the protective cover installed at the station’s first power generating unit after heavy wind ripped off a part of the dome, Kyodo news reported Tuesday.
The incident took place when TEPCO staff has been inserting a special substance, which is to prevent radioactive dust and debris from getting outside the dome, into the Fukushima protective cover. The wind torn off a part of the dome's roof about three to six feet. According to Kyodo, the level of radiation in the area remained unchanged.
TEPCO started the preparations for dismantling the Fukushima protective cover last week. Decommissioning of the damaged reactor is expected to take around 40 years.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, after a devastating tsunami triggered by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake engulfed the nuclear plant. Some reactors' coolant systems failed which resulted in multiple hydrogen-air chemical explosions. Three of the plant’s six nuclear reactors melted down and radiation leaked into the atmosphere, soil and sea.
The incident was called the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
Cleaning the toxic waste from the abandoned nuclear plant and reactors decommissioning have become TEPCO’s principal task.
