TOKYO, Aug. 22 (Jiji Press) — Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. on Thursday suspended trial work to remove residual nuclear fuel from reactor No. 2 of the meltdown-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The suspension came after the company discovered a procedural error in the installation of a rubble disposal facility during preparatory work. TEPCO will not resume trial work on Thursday and has not yet made a decision on how to proceed from Friday.

The work on Thursday was actually the company’s first recovery of debris from a reactor container ship since the nuclear meltdown that occurred in March 2011 following a severe earthquake and tsunami at the power plant in northeastern Japan.

According to TEPCO, preparatory work began at around 7:25 a.m. on Thursday.

Although a remote-controlled, telescopic device in the shape of a fishing rod was brought up to the connection to the reactor vessel, a worker discovered an error in the installation of the device, which led to a suspension of work.

(Copyright: The Jiji Press, Ltd.)