New technology deployed as Fukushima cleanup progresses

More than 15 years after the March 11, 2011, accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, decommissioning of the plant and cleanup of the site and affected areas is progressing aided by new forms of treatment and robotic technology.

In addition to removing fuel and debris, crews have been treating water contaminated with radionuclides and, since 2023, releasing the treated water into the Pacific Ocean in a process conducted by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The most recent report from TEPCO, dated September 18, states that radiation levels in both groundwater and seawater samples were below target levels. The seventh and final discharge of treated water for fiscal year 2026 (and the 25th since 2023) began on October 26 and is scheduled to continue until November 13.

TEPCO has said that is following a 40-year road map for the decommissioning process, with completion of the work expected in 2051. To support decommissioning efforts and cleanup of solid as well as liquid waste, novel forms of technology continue to be deployed.

Studsvik's inDRUM technology: Swedish engineering company Studsvik AB recently announced that it will partner with Japanese nuclear decommissioning firm ReNu Industries to deploy Studsvik's inDRUM waste treatment technology in support of cleanup efforts at Fukushima.

ReNu plans to adapt Studsvik's inDRUM technology specifications for use in a waste treatment pilot plant currently in development. The company, which was established in December 2025 with its headquarters in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, has been granted an award of up to 700 million yen (about $4.4 million) via the Japanese government's Fukushima reconstruction initiative toward construction of the plant, which it expects to complete in fiscal year 2028.

The inDRUM system is capable of treating various forms of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste with a process that keeps the waste unsorted inside a sealed container. According to Studsvik's website, the inDRUM process can reduce the volume of waste by up to 90 percent, depending on the materials present. The remaining waste then can be sent for any final treatment processes.

ReNu's planned use of inDRUM technology presents one possible solution to the problem of reducing solid waste from Fukushima, which the Atomic Energy Society of Japan highlighted earlier this year. The Asahi Shimbun reported in July 2026 that the society's decommissioning advisory committee had estimated that without reduction measures, the decommissioning process could produce as much as 5.6 million cubic meters of waste.

Additional forms of tech: The employment of the inDRUM process at Renu's pilot plant is just one example of innovative technology being used to facilitate cleanup at Fukushima.

In a 2016 paper in MRS Bulletin, coauthors Angela Saini and Tadafumi Koyama detailed some of the technology that had been deployed at the site up to that point, including frozen soil barriers to address water contamination, water treatment systems, vitrification of solid waste, systems fitted with a crystalline substance called zeolite to reduce radioactivity, and robot assistants to conduct physical tasks.

The use of robotics at Fukushima has continued even recently. Earlier this month, Hitachi announced its own contributions to the fleet of robots supporting the decommissioning work there. The constructs include remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and a shape-changing robot called PMORPH, both of which are designed to conduct surveys, as well as HUMALT, a robot that uses a flexible, hydraulic-powered arm. Separately, on October 2, the Japan Times reported that Tokyo Electric Power Company had begun using a robotic arm to conduct inspection of the highly radioactive containment vessel of Unit 2 at Fukushima Daiichi, though the article did not name the firm behind the robotic arm's design.