Robot in Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) has deployed a robot named Telesco into the Unit 2 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to retrieve a small sample of melted fuel debris, a mission viewed as critical to the decades-long decommissioning process. The robot aims to extract approximately 3 grams of an estimated 880 tons of nuclear waste, which will be analyzed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The mission follows a previous unsuccessful attempt due to a technical error with the robot's assembly, causing a two-week delay, which raised concerns among officials and local residents. TEPCO and the government have set a target to clear the site by 2050, though experts view this as optimistic. The decommissioning process is complicated by high radiation levels and the unpredictable state of the fuel debris, which has mixed with other reactor materials. This robotic mission is a part of Japan's broader strategy to revive its nuclear industry post-2011 disaster.