TEPCO to conduct endoscopy of Fukushima reactors

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will use an industrial endoscope to study the inside of a damaged reactor at the Fukushima Nuclear power plant. The utility says the 10-meter long and 8-millimeter wide device will be deployed from next month to measure temperatures and observe other conditions inside the containment vessel at the No.2 reactor, according to Japan''s (NHK World) website. The government announced on December 16th that all the reactors have been brought under control. But there is not much information on the inside of the containment vessels in the reactors. The endoscopy will provide the first opportunity to see the inside of a containment vessel of one of the 3 reactors since nuclear fuel melted down in March. At the bottom of the containment vessels, parts of the nuclear fuel are believed to be piled up after melting through the wall of the pressure vessels. The firm will start drilling a hole in the northwest wall of the containment vessel at the No. 2 reactor next month so that the high-level radiation proof endoscope can be inserted through it. TEPCO said it wants to study the extent to which existing technologies can be used for the decommissioning of the reactors before it develops new ones.