Robot Finds Possible Melted Fuel Inside Fukushima Reactor

Lava-like rocks believed to be melted nuclear fuel have been spotted inside Japan’s stricken Fukushima reactor by an underwater robot, the plant’s operator said at the end of a three-day inspection. Large amounts of the solidified lumps and deposit were spotted for the first time by the robot on the floor of the primary containment … Read more

Underwater Robot Probes Inside Fukushima Reactor

The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Friday it is using an underwater robot in a renewed attempt to inspect damage suffered in a tsunami-induced meltdown. A massive undersea earthquake on March 11, 2011 sent a huge wave barrelling into Japan’s northeast coast, killing more than 18,500 people, and sending three reactors into … Read more

Japan Court Rules Government Liable For Fukushima Disaster

A Japanese court on Friday ruled for the first time that the government bears responsibility for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and ordered it and the plant operator to pay damages, officials and news reports said. A massive tsunami triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake smashed into the Fukushima Daiichi power plant on Japan’s northeastern coast … Read more

Fukushima Operator Eyes Plan To Clean Up Plant

The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Thursday it will craft a plan this summer to extract highly radioactive fuel from the damaged reactors — a key step in decommissioning work expected to take decades. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and the Japanese government have struggled to clean up the world’s worst … Read more

‘Scorpion’ Robot Mission Inside Fukushima Reactor Aborted

A ‘scorpion’ robot sent into a Japanese nuclear reactor to learn about the damage suffered in a tsunami-induced meltdown had its mission aborted after the probe ran into trouble, Tokyo Electric Power company said Thursday. TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, sent the remote-controlled device into the No. 2 reactor where radiation levels … Read more