Robot finds possible melted fuel in Fukushima reactor

Lava-like rocks believed to be melted nuclear fuel have been spotted inside Japan’s stricken Fukushima reactor by an underwater robot, the plant’s operator said at the end of a three-day inspection. Large amounts of the solidified lumps and deposit were spotted for the first time by the robot on the floor of the primary containment vessel underneath the core of Fukushima’s No. 3 reactor, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said. “There is a high possibility that the solidified objects are mixtures of melted metal and fuel that fell from the vessel,” a TEPCO spokesman said, adding that the company was planning further analysis of the images.