Nuclear fuel debris removed from Fukushima nuclear power plant's containment vessel for the first time since disaster - South Korean report

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced on the 2nd that it has removed a small amount of nuclear fuel debris from inside the damaged reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant outside the containment vessel for the first time since the 2011 disaster.
According to NHK and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the same day, TEPCO removed nuclear fuel debris about 5 mm in size from the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
This is the first time that nuclear fuel debris has been removed from the reactor containment vessel at a nuclear power plant since the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, it is still unclear whether it will be retrieved.
The radiation level is planned to be measured as early as the 5th, and a final decision will be made on whether to retrieve the debris. If the radiation level exceeds dangerous levels, the plan is to return the nuclear fuel debris back into the containment vessel without retrieving it.
If the decision to recover the materials is made, they will be placed in special metal containers and then transferred to the Ibaraki Prefectural Laboratory of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) for several months to analyze the distribution of former elements, etc.
TEPCO began test removal of nuclear fuel debris in August this year, 13 years after the accident. However, after two failures due to assembly errors and camera malfunctions, the company was finally able to remove the containment vessel.
According to reports, they developed a telescopic pipe device about 22 meters long and used a claw-shaped device attached to the end of the pipe to remove the nuclear fuel debris.
However, the method for removing all of the debris has not yet been decided, and even if they are ultimately successful in recovering this small amount, the timeline for further work until the nuclear plant is decommissioned remains unclear.
Removing nuclear fuel debris is considered the most difficult task in the process of decommissioning the disaster-hit nuclear plant. The Japanese government has plans to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant around 2051.
However, if the removal of the nuclear fuel is delayed, this goal cannot be achieved. If all the nuclear fuel debris is not removed, additional treated water will be generated due to rainwater and groundwater flowing into the accidented reactors.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is estimated to have a total of about 880 tons of nuclear fuel debris in Units 1 to 3.