Protesters wearing gas masks and white costumes similar to those of decontamination workers at the crippled Fukushima plant beat drums painted with radioactive waste symbols during an anti nuclear power demonstration march in Tokyo.
The final sixth concrete panel of the dome has been removed, according to Kyodo news agency.
The removal of the protective dome will allow to dismantle debris inside the power unit. According to earlier reports, TEPCO plans to start the extraction of 392 trunks with spent nuclear fuel in 2019.
TEPCO began preparatory work to dismantle the protective cover over the Reactor 1 building in May. The preparations began with anti-dispersal agents poured through holes in the cover’s roof to prevent radioactive dust escaping into the surrounding environment during the dismantling process.
Members of the media wearing protective suits and masks report as they are escorted by TEPCO employees at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)`s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture on February 20, 2012
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.
Cleaning the toxic waste from the abandoned nuclear plant and reactors decommissioning have become TEPCO’s priority task.
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