FRYDAY: Thursday was supposed to be significant. TEPCO was going to attempt to retrieve a tiny 3 grams or so from the monsterous amount of melted fuel that lies beneath
#Fukushima R2, using a special 'tool' that has been many months in development; a robotic arm attached by 5 interconnected pipes that would take 2 WEEKS to reach its destination, collect this tiny sample, and then, if the arm functioned as intended, retract back to where engineers could retrieve it and whisk the sample off to Ibaraki for further study. Well, the Fukushima Circus didn't disappoint...
One or more of the robotic engineers it seems connected the pipes IN THE WRONG ORDER, at the plant, while assembling this apparatus in the holding area of R2. So this robotic arm operation has been scrapped, perhaps even the device itself. TEPCO has not revealed yet if the device was damaged by this improper installation, or even who was responsible!
Major mistakes occur in high radiation environments (hello, radbrain). This is a major snafu, another setback in a long line of TEPCO's troubles. This event, the highly-publicized retrieval of 3 grams of fuel, was just another disappointment in the ongoing Fukushima Circus 🎪
english.kyodonews.net/news/2…