Drone video provides first look INSIDE Fukushima reactor with melted wreckage and 880 tons of nuclear fuel after 2011 disaster

World

A terrifying drone video has revealed the first glimpse of Ground Zero from the second worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen.

The eerie footage shows the melted wreckage of the worst hit reactor at Fukushima who helped spread radioactive nuclear fuel in northeastern Japan thirteen years ago.

For the first time, drones entered the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plantCredit: AP

There are more than 800 tons of highly reactive fuel in the plant's three damaged reactors — There are more than 800 tons of highly reactive fuel in the plant’s three damaged reactorsCredit: AP

Three days after the earthquake and tsunami, smoke rises from the plant following successive explosions in March 2011Credit: Getty

Scientists are trying to learn more about the interior of the melted reactorsCredit: AP

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake – the largest to ever hit Japan – caused a monstrous tsunami that led to the deaths of 18,500 people across Japan.

Horrible 133ft waves at a speed of 700 km/h it crashed into the country’s northeastern coast and crashed into the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

It destroyed the plant’s cooling systems, leading to the collapse of three reactors, spilling nuclear fuel on land and sea as 230,000 people ran for their lives.

Fukushima – once known for its fish and sake – suddenly became a name pronounced with the same familiarity as Chernobyl.

Now images taken by miniature drones deep inside the worst-hit reactor No. 1 show the epicenter of the catastrophe that has scarred Japan.

Displaced control equipment, misshapen materials and blackened ladders lie buried among the mangled concrete.

But the fragment leaves many unanswered questions, scientists say, as they try to dismantle the plant, which still contains more than 880 tons of highly radioactive molten nuclear fuel.

What was the Fukushima nuclear disaster?

The nuclear accident occurred on March 11, 2011 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi site in northern Japan.

It is the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation, after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

A tsunami, caused by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, damaged the cooling systems and backup generators at the plant.

All three reactors were successfully shut down, but the loss of power caused the cooling systems to fail in the days that followed.

The government was forced to declare a 40 kilometer evacuation zone and almost 230,000 residents had to flee.

Thirteen years later, the plant still contains 800 tons of highly radioactive fuel.

The twelve photos released by the plant’s operator are the first from the primary containment vessel of the hardest-hit reactor No. 1, an area directly beneath the reactor’s core.

Officials had tried for years to reach the area to examine the core and melted fuel.

Previous attempts with robots failed to reach the area.

Thick clouds of smoke from reactor No. 3 during the disasterCredit: AP: Associated Press

The earthquake and tsunami killed 18,500 people in JapanCredit: Reuters

The new drone clips in the reactor look at the location and size of radioactive fuelCredit: AFP

The images showed displaced control equipment and misshapen materialsCredit: AP

The two-day survey using small drones was completed last week by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), which has now released the footage.

TEPCO is trying to find out more about the remaining radioactive sludge so that it can be removed and the plant with its three damaged reactors can finally be decommissioned.

The high-definition images show brown objects of various shapes and sizes dangling in various locations in the dark world beneath reactor No. 1.

Parts of the control rod drive mechanism, which controls the nuclear chain reaction, and other equipment lie on the floor.

TEPCO officials said they could not tell from the images whether the dangling clumps were melted fuel or melted equipment, without data such as radiation levels.

The drones had to be lightweight to move between the obstacles and did not carry dosimeters to measure the radiation.

The drones could not see the bottom of the reactor core because of the darkness, officials said.

Now the probe should allow scientists to develop technology and robots to help remove the radioactive fuel.

The difficult decommissioning process has been delayed for years by technical obstacles and the lack of data.

But in the wake of the drone investigation, much is still unknown about the interior of the reactors.

Critics say the target set by the government and TEPCO for cleaning up the factory over a period of 30 to 40 years is too optimistic.

Meanwhile, more than 130 tons of water are polluted every day.

Heartbreaking in 2017 images revealed an abandoned ghost town next to Fukushima six years after the devastating nuclear accident.

The classrooms are frozen in time, empty, with children’s coats and bags still hung up and pencil cases on the desk.

In another shot, a calendar hangs on the wall, still stuck to March 2011, the date the disaster occurred.

The city’s shops are completely empty as stock sits untouched on the shelves in the no-go zone.

The Japanese government has tried to encourage people to return to their destroyed homes, but the village remains in an exclusion zone.