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The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has started [removal / removing] fuel rods from Japan's [stricken / struck] Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Tepco is the company that [operates / operate] the nuclear power plant. It was badly damaged and [suffered / suffering] meltdowns following being hit by a [massive / massively] earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Tepco started the removal of the nuclear fuel on Monday, five years [back / behind] schedule. The work to remove and relocate the hazardous rods [were / was] delayed because of a [whole / hole] series of malfunctions of the devices that had been designed for the removal operation. Another factor that caused delays was [high / height] levels of radiation observed in the area. Tepco said this [posted / posed] a "significant challenge" for engineers.

Tepco said it is removing seven [unspent / spend] nuclear fuel rods from the reactor's pool. There are a [totally / total] of 1,573 spent and unspent fuel rods [storage / stored] at the power plant. The rods will be transferred to safer storage [pools / pool] at the plant. Tepco said the work would be [competed / completed] by the end of March 2021. A company spokesman, Tomohiko Isogai, said: "I believe everything is going well so [for / far] . We will watch the progress at the site as we put [safety / safe] first. Our goal is not to rush the [process / proceeds] but to carefully proceed with the decommissioning work." Another spokesman said: "[Safety / Safe] is our priority. We will carefully continue this work." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would do its best to rebuild the [area / arena] .