Small Drone Flies Into Damaged Fukushima Reactor for First Time to Study Its Melted Fuel

Small Drone Flies Into Damaged Fukushima Reactor for First Time to Study Its Melted Fuel
This aerial view shows the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 24, 2023. Kyodo News via AP
The Associated Press
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TOKYO—A drone small enough to fit in one’s hand flew inside one of the damaged reactors at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday in hopes it can examine some of the molten fuel debris in areas where earlier robots failed to reach.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings also began releasing the fourth batch of the plant’s treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the sea Wednesday. The government and TEPCO, the plant’s operator, say the water is safe and the process is being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but the discharges have faced opposition by fishing groups, as well as a Chinese ban on Japanese seafood.