A robot nicknamed Telesco managed to retrieve a small sample of melted nuclear fuel debris from inside the ruins of a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. This sample, described as being the size of a grain of rice, has been securely stored and will undergo further analysis in outside laboratories to provide crucial information for the decommissioning process of the plant.
After years of exploration and probes inside the plant following the 2011 disaster, the site's highly radioactive interior still holds many mysteries. The successful retrieval of the sample is a key milestone in the long process of cleaning up the plant's reactors that suffered meltdowns due to the loss of cooling systems during an earthquake and tsunami.
Despite initial concerns about the high radioactivity of the melted fuel debris, the sample collected by the robot was found to be significantly less radioactive than anticipated. This discovery has raised questions about the exact location from which the sample was obtained and whether it truly represents the melted nuclear fuel, but plant officials remain confident in the extraction process. Plans for the full removal and disposal of the remaining 880 tons of melted fuel debris are yet to be finalized, with experts suggesting that the cleanup process may take much longer than the targeted 30-to-40-year timeline.