TOKYO -- The removal of melted fuel rods from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will be pushed back until around October, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings said Thursday, as delays in completing a robot arm for the task have prompted a switch to other plans.

Fuel debris removal was first scheduled to start within a decade of the 2011 reactor meltdowns, but development and testing of the robot arm in the U.K. was delayed by COVID-19. The time frame was later pushed back to the second half of fiscal 2023.