• A company demonstrated a remote-controlled robot for retrieving melted fuel debris at Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
• The plan involves deploying an extendable pipe robot into the reactor to begin debris removal by October.
• Approximately 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain in the three damaged reactors.

The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October.

That work is more than two years behind schedule. The removal of melted fuel was supposed to begin in late 2021 but has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011.

DRONE AIMS TO EXAMINE JAPAN’S DAMAGED FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR THE FIRST TIME

During the demonstration at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Kobe, western Japan, where the robot has been developed, a device equipped with tongs slowly descended from the telescopic pipe to a heap of gravel and picked up a granule.

TEPCO plans to remove less than 1 ounce of debris in the test at the Fukushima plant.

“We believe the upcoming test removal of fuel debris from Unit 2 is an extremely important step to steadily carry out future decommissioning work,” said Yusuke Nakagawa, a TEPCO group manager for the fuel debris retrieval program. “It is important to proceed with the test removal safely and steadily.”

About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three damaged reactors. Critics say the 30- to 40-year cleanup target set by the government and TEPCO for Fukushima Daiichi is overly optimistic. The damage in each reactor is different, and plans must accommodate their conditions.

Better understanding the melted fuel debris from inside the reactors is key to their decommissioning. TEPCO deployed four mini drones into the No. 1 reactor’s primary containment vessel earlier this year to capture images from the areas where robots had not reached.

Thirteen out of 21 people killed by Israel in an air strike on the so-called “safe area” of al-Mawasi were civilian women and girls, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported on Tuesday.

This was the second attack since Sunday, with a horrifying strike on Sunday night setting displaced people’s shelters ablaze not too far from Tuesday’s strike.

The world had watched, aghast, on Monday as displaced Palestinians were forced to dig through smouldering remains with their bare hands – looking for bodies, or injured people, or in some cases, a few scraps of food they could salvage to keep their families going a bit longer.

As reports further clarify what happened on Tuesday, here are the details of Sunday’s attack:

When and where was this attack?

The attack happened at night on May 26.

It was inflicted on an encampment of makeshift shelters just north of Rafah city, in an area called Tal as-Sultan

It came after United States President Joe Biden said a “major offensive” by Israel on Rafah would be a red line.

What happened in the attack?

Many shelters burst into flames with their occupants still inside.

The Gaza Government Media Office said Israel dropped seven 900kg (2,000-pound) bombs as well as missiles on the displacement camp.

The Israeli army said it targeted Rafah with “precision munitions”, and that a nearby fuel tank led to the subsequent fire.

Horrific videos emerged of the aftermath – the most notable was of a man holding up the corpse of a young child without a head.

Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification Agency was able to obtain images of fragments believed to be of the weaponry used in this attack. The photos the agency obtained show the tail of a GBU-39/B small-diameter bomb, which is made by Boeing. The GBU-39/B includes a jet engine taken from the M26 unguided missile.

Who were the people killed?

Thousands of civilians had been sheltering in the Tal as-Sultan area, seeking some minimal protection from the continuous Israeli attacks across Gaza.

The Israeli government had not issued any orders to evacuate the area before it attacked.

How many people died?

Israel killed at least 45 people in the offensive.

The total number of injured people is hard to determine, as the hospital where casualties were taken has closed after a subsequent Israeli drone attack on its entrance that killed two members of staff.

How did they die?

Some people died from the impact of the bomb.

Some people “reportedly burned to death”, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

What were they doing when they died?

Accounts from Rafah say that many of the dead were preparing to go to sleep when the attack occurred.

Why is Israel doing this?

Initially, the Israeli army claimed it had struck “a Hamas compound in Rafah in which significant Hamas terrorists were operating”.

It added it was “aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since said the attack was “a tragic mistake.”

“Despite our best effort not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic error happened last night. We are investigating the case,” Netanyahu said.

The attack came two days after the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is set to convene an emergency meeting over the attack on Rafah.

To date, the United States has vetoed every UNSC proposal aimed at holding Israel accountable.