Fuel rod removal: Fukushima’s most dangerous operation yields first successes

[FBaggins]

42. Manual doesn't really make it harder

Watch the videos... they aren't just using a fishing rod and hoping to hook something by luck.

Fuel handling isn't always done by computer. The most important assistance the computer provides is not the "down to the millimeter" location of each assembly, it's the tracking of which assembly you're dealing with as it moves from fresh fuel, through each refueling move, placement in the pool (and occasionally restacking within the pool) and eventual move out of the pool to other storage.

and the easiest of the rods to be removed.

We don't know that. Certainly the rest of pool #4 would be roughly comparable. For all we know, #2 will be easier since it avoided a hydrogen explosion and still has the original fuel-handling equipment. No debris in the pool or explosion above it. No badly damaged building to work around (etc).

A lot can go wrong in that time frame.

Of course. And some of it could endanger people working at the plant.

But not something that would be "the end of Japan" - let alone the rest of the world.