One of the several intrepid automaton to makeone - way of life tripsinto Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant ’s gravely damage reactor has accomplished what its less golden compatriot did not , sending back photos of what appear to be fade atomic fuel from the interior of the ruined facility .
The remotely check Toshiba robot , which is similar in design to a submarine , managed to gain some glimpses of “ a hardened black , grey and orange substance ” pool below nuclear reactor No . 3,Bloomberg reportedon Friday . Officials with Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. believe the substance is the stiff of atomic fuel rod , which melted through and fuse with other structural components of the reactor .
Identifying precisely where the melted - down material are , and what they are composed of , is decisive to the ongoing Tepco cleanup spot effort .
“ Never before have we taken such percipient pictures of what could be melted fuel , ” utility functionary Takahiro Kimoto differentiate reporters , per Bloomberg . “ We conceive that the fuel run and mixed with the metal directly underneath it . And it is highly probable that we have filmed that on Friday . ”
After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami triggered the plant ’s meltdown , over 100,000 people were evacuated from a30 - mile radiusaround the facility . The reactor at Fukushima remain extremely grave : In February 2017 , radiation level inside nuclear reactor No . 2 reached at least650 sieverts per hour , enough to fry a person in second and destroying the electronics inside Tepco robots .
While the killing is gestate to take decades and has an estimated $ 72 billion terms shred , authorities are positive enough the orbit fence the plant is now safe they begin the unconscious process ofresettling evacueeslast year .
[ Bloomberg ]
FukushimaJapanNuclear powerScienceTechnology
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