TEPCO Removes Canopy Panel From Fukushima Reactor Building

OKUMA, JAPAN - JULY 28: Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is seen on July 28, 2015 in Okuma, Fukushima, Japan. Workers using a giant crane lifted away the first of six canopy panels, each measuring 40 meters long and 7 meters wide. The utility plans to remove the remaining five panels from next week. The removal of the canopy will allow TEPCO to clear debris inside the building, possibly in the latter half of fiscal 2016. That process should pave the way for the removal of nuclear fuel rods from the spent fuel pool in the building. TEPCO initially planned to start removing the canopy panels from the No. 1 reactor building in summer 2014, but the schedule was delayed because a large amount of radioactive substances was released into the environment when the utility removed debris from the No. 3 reactor building in August 2013. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)