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The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has released interior footage of a reactor containment vessel captured by a robot.
Tokyo Electric Power Company sent the remote-controlled robot into the highly contaminated area of the No.1 reactor last Friday to assess damage. But the robot became immobile after advancing about a dozen meters.
On Monday, TEPCO released part of the about 3-hour-long footage recorded by the robot.
The 2-minute 40-second-long clip shows mainly steam. It is thought that water at the bottom of the containment vessel is being evaporated by the heat of the melted nuclear fuel.
The temperature inside the vessel was about 20 degrees Celsius. But the robot recorded up to around 10 sieverts of radiation per hour, a level that could kill a person in about 40 minutes.
The footage shows small bits of debris around the robot, but no major damage to the nearby wall and structures.
TEPCO plans to analyze the footage to consider ways of removing the melted fuel and decommissioning the reactors.
The utility has cut the remote control cable for the robot after giving up on its recovery on Sunday, and postponed a second survey with another robot.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html