Today marks 15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi accident, a reminder of the importance of the long-term decommissioning work now underway at the site.
Veolia’s Nuclear Solutions team has been working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) since 2016 to support this mission. After years of engineering development and international collaboration, the robotic arm designed to investigate fuel debris inside Fukushima Daiichi’s Unit 2 reactor is now being highlighted in recent updates from TEPCO and Japanese media.
The system shown is the Primary Containment Vessel Investigation (PCVI) boom system, designed and built by Veolia’s Nuclear Solutions team in the UK in partnership with MHI.
For the engineers involved, seeing this system in operation represents the culmination of many years of collaboration, innovation and preparation. The 21 metre remotely operated boom is designed to enter the damaged reactor through a small access port and investigate the location and condition of nuclear fuel debris inside the Primary Containment Vessel.
As the project moves toward operational deployment, our teams continue to support:
- Deployment planning
Site readiness activities
On-site technical monitoring
Ongoing advisory support
Earlier this year, we were pleased to welcome colleagues from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Marubeni Utility Services to our Nuclear Solutions headquarters in Abingdon to support site-readiness preparations ahead of deployment.
Our multidisciplinary teams, spanning mechanical, electrical, control and software engineering, remain actively engaged at Fukushima Daiichi, supporting boom deployment and Dexter™ haptic feedback manipulator operations as part of the debris investigation programme.
Through this collaborative approach, both teams remain aligned on the safe and steady progress of the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning programme.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Programme Director
We are very proud to support our partners on one of the most technically demanding nuclear decommissioning missions in the world.