The defuelling operation centres on the building for reactor four.
That has filled half the demand for reactor uranium for the last few years.
These can produce low-enriched uranium for reactor fuel, or highly enriched uranium for a bomb.
I also saw that part of the wall of the turbine building for reactor one had come away.
This step involves the conversion of the suitably enriched product material to the chemical form desired for reactor fuel.
The crash after that was utter and profound, as plans for reactor plants all over the country were canceled.
Exploding demand for energy had helped revitalize the nuclear power industry, and uranium, the raw material for reactor fuel, was about to become a hot commodity.
Abe's enthusiasm for reactor restarts is proof that Japan's "nuclear village" of politicians, utilities and regulators is re-establishing its influence more than four years after Fukushima.
"You don't regulate nuclear safety if you're a state," said Jay E. Silberg, a lawyer at Shaw Pittman, which does extensive work for reactor operators.
The price of fuel alone for the gas plant would exceed all costs for reactor power, including fuel, capital, maintenance and other expenses.
Handled in this way, borosilicate glass would be an excellent encapsulation material for reactor waste that had been aged for a decade or so.
