Toshiba Receives Certificates of Appreciation from TEPCO for the Investigation of the Interior of the PCV at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2

Kawasaki, Japan — Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “Toshiba ESS”) today announced that the company received a certificate of appreciation from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) as of July 29, 2019, concerning the investigation of the interior of the primary containment vessel (PCV) at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2. The survey will lead to the acceleration of a mid-and-long-term roadmap towards the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

Toshiba ESS, a member of the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), is proceeding with the survey of the interior of the PCV for retrieval of fuel debris. In January 2018, by inserting an interior investigation device with a guiding pipe and an extensible pipe into the inside of the PCV, Toshiba ESS succeeded in taking pictures of deposits which are estimated to be fuel debris at the bottom of the pedestal^* area. Afterwards, Toshiba ESS developed a deposit investigation device by adding a finger drive mechanism to the head of the interior investigation device for surveying the status of the deposits. In February 2019, with the device, Toshiba ESS probed the deposits under the platform interior of the PCV and observed how they had changed. Furthermore, Toshiba ESS succeeded in recording movies and radiation and temperature data at a shorter distance to the deposits than before.

The development and improvement of the device under a simulated environment, as well as refinement of the usability of the device by considering its actual usage environment, have enabled the probing experiment to be realized and completed in around one year since the investigation in January 2018—a lead time considered to be swift.

Toshiba ESS will continue to contribute to the decommissioning efforts for Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

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