Japan sent drones deep inside Fukushima; here’s what they saw [Video]

New images of the damaged reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have been released Monday by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). 

The photographs were taken using miniature drones, which showed displaced control equipment and highlighted the daunting task of decommissioning the plant. 

The 12 photos are the first from inside the main structural support called the pedestal in the hardest-hit No. 1 reactor’s primary containment vessel, an area directly under the reactor’s core. 

Officials had long hoped to reach the area to examine the core and melted nuclear fuel that dripped there when the plant’s cooling systems were damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

In the past, TEPCO officials have sent a number of probes – including a crawling robot and an underwater vehicle – inside each reactor but was hindered by debris, high radiation and the inability to navigate through the …