Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings unveiled a new robot arm on Wednesday for the project to remove nuclear fuel debris from its tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The 22-meter-long arm can grab debris from a wider area than the previously used fishing rod-like devices. Tepco plans to begin setting it up next month and start the third trial at the No. 2 reactor this autumn.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) unveiled a new robot arm on February 26, 2026, for use in the project to remove nuclear fuel debris from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, crippled by the 2011 tsunami. Developed by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning since 2017, the 22-meter-long arm can grab debris from a wider area than the fishing rod-like devices used in previous trials, which each collected just 0.9 milligrams of debris in the first and second tests. At the plant, an estimated 880 tons of highly radioactive fuel debris remain in the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 reactors. Tepco plans to start installing the arm next month and conduct the third trial of debris collection from the No. 2 reactor this autumn. Large-scale debris removal is scheduled to begin at the No. 3 reactor in fiscal 2037 or later, while specific methods for the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors are still under consideration. This effort forms part of the ongoing decommissioning following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster.
