New images released from inside Fukushima nuclear power plant reactor – Washington Examiner

New images have been released showing the scale of destruction inside an old reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The photographs, taken using miniature drones, were released on Monday by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The images showed brown icicle-shaped objects, control equipment, and other distorted materials deep inside the melted reactor.

Officials hope the long-awaited images will give them more insight and the chance to observe the nuclear reactor’s core since the plant’s cooling systems were wrecked by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that caused a Level 7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.

This image was taken by a drone and provided by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings shows displaced equipment and misshapen materials inside the No. 1 reactor as a drone probes the inside of the worst-hit reactor at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, northeastern Japan, on March 14, 2024. Images taken by two miniature drones sent inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced key control equipment and other materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant. (TEPCO via AP)

TEPCO sent tiny drones into the vessel, collecting images and analyzing how to collect the debris for further investigation.

Almost 880 tons of radioactive melted nuclear fuel are inside the three ruined reactors. This project is part of TEPCO‘s Daiichi Decontamination & Decommissioning initiative of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

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TEPCO‘s images include a “bird’s eye view of the snake-like robot in front of the opening” and “clump-like objects on top of the CRD housing that has fallen in the vicinity of the opening.”

This photo shows a drone designed to investigate the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant while in demonstration in Naraha, northeast of Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Daisuke Kojima/Kyodo News via AP)

Officials could not determine whether the hanging “clump-like objects” were melted fuel or equipment. They were also unable to collect radiation because the lightweight drones could not carry the weight of a dosimeter, a tool used to collect and measure radiation.