Toshiba Corp. on Monday demonstrated a device it anticipates will be used to remove fuel-rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool in the reactor 3 building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Scheduled to begin extracting 566 fuel-rod assemblies sometime in fiscal 2017, Toshiba, the builder of reactor 3, showed how the gigantic remote-control crane-like device will work during a demonstration at a company factory in Yokohama.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has said that although it is working to reduce the radiation level inside the reactor 3 building, it remains impossible for humans to safely monitor the removal of the fuel-rod assemblies.