First footage of the reactor meltdown in Fukushima

Drone images reveal the scale of damage at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 13 years after the meltdown disaster .

Drone flying inside the reactor compartment in Fukushima. (Video: TEPCO)

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant , Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), released videos and photos taken from inside the facility. These are the first images from inside the main structure called the support pillar in the main containment compartment of the most severely damaged reactor, the area just below the reactor core, Mail reported on March 19.

Authorities have long hoped to gain access to the site to examine the core and the molten nuclear fuel that dripped onto it when the plant's cooling system was destroyed by the polar earthquake and tsunami. strong in 2011. A series of high-resolution color photos taken by a drone revealed brown objects of various shapes and sizes dangling from multiple locations on the support pillars. Part of the actuator using the control rod used to control the nuclear chain reaction and many other devices attached to the reactor core were knocked out of position by the drone.

Brown objects of all shapes and sizes hang from the supporting pillars. (Photo: TEPCO)

TEPCO authorities said that from the photos, they cannot determine whether the suspended blocks are molten fuel or melted equipment without obtaining other data such as radiation levels. Drones are not equipped with radiation dosimeters because they need to be light and flexible. About 880 tons of highly radioactive molten nuclear fuel remained inside the three destroyed reactors.

TEPCO is seeking to learn more about the location and condition of this fuel to expedite cleanup and liquidation of the plant. The camera on the drone could not see the bottom of the reactor core, partly because of the darkness in the containment chamber. Information from the probe could inform future surveys of molten debris, which are key to developing cleanup technology and robots. But much unclear information about the condition inside the reactor shows that this is an extremely difficult task. Critics say the factory cleanup target in 30-40 years set by the Japanese government and TEPCO is too optimistic.

The process of dismantling the plant was delayed for years due to technical obstacles and lack of data. The Fukushima disaster is one of the most damaging nuclear incidents in the world . The incident occurred after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake shook the eastern coastal region of Japan. It was one of the strongest earthquakes recorded in Japan. The earthquake was so intense that it shifted the Earth's left axis and triggered a giant tsunami that swept across Japan's main island of Honshu. The tsunami alone killed 18,000 people.

Water from the tsunami easily overflowed the barrier protecting Fukushima and flooded the reactor, causing it to melt. As more and more radiation leaked from the plant, more than 150,000 people were forced to evacuate the surrounding area. Today, the exclusion zone remains in place and nearly all evacuated residents have not returned. Japanese authorities predict it will take up to 40 years to clean up pollution in the area. This nuclear disaster was classified as a level 7 event by the International Atomic Energy Agency.