Possible Melted Nuclear Fuel Debris Spotted in Fukushima Reactor; TEPCO Releases Drone Footage from Inside Reactor Pedestal

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:12 JST, March 19, 2024

Icicle-like objects and other masses were observed in video footage taken by a drone inside a containment vessel of the No. 1 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

TEPCO, which released the video on Monday, intends to check whether the objects are nuclear fuel debris that melted in the accident caused by tsunami after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The company filmed the inside of a ferroconcrete pedestal supporting the main body of the reactor in February and March using a small drone. The footage confirmed what looked like icicles and other solid masses on top of a broken part of the fuel rod storage equipment in the pedestal.

According to TEPCO’s previous investigation, damage could be seen to the submerged lower portion of the inner wall. However, no major damage was observed to the sections of the inner wall seen in the drone footage.