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Japan’s TEPCO Releases Footage inside Fukushima Reactor Pressure Vessel; 1st Time Inside of No. 2 Reactor Seen since 2011 Accident

Courtesy of TEPCO
Floating dust and what appears to be a pump is seen inside the No. 2 reactor pressure vessel at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on April 16.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:39 JST, April 24, 2026

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. released footage on Thursday from inside the No. 2 reactor pressure vessel at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The footage was taken during an internal inspection, conducted from April 14-16, of the reactor pressure vessel. This is the first time the condition inside the vessel has been shown since the March 2011 accident.

According to TEPCO, a fiberscope captured footage of the structure believed to be the shroud that houses nuclear fuel and a pump, along with floating dust. The footage did not show any noticeable damage inside the area.

Meanwhile, radiation levels were high near the reactor core, suggesting that a certain amount of fuel debris remains in that location, TEPCO said. Information obtained from the inspection will be used for future debris removal.

“We will make use of this knowledge for other reactors and proceed with the decommissioning,” a TEPCO official said.