Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to permanently idle the two reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant that were unscathed in the 2011 catastrophe and use them as test platforms for ultimately removing the fuel in the three reactors that suffered core meltdowns, Tepco sources said Wednesday.

The decision was reached following a request by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said in September that the utility should scrap reactors 5 and 6 and focus more on cleaning up the disaster.

But instead of dismantling the two units, they will be used as a research facility to develop technologies for achieving the unprecedented task of removing the melted fuel from reactors 1, 2 and 3, a process that will take decades.