JAPAN

A “scorpion” robot sent into the Fukushima nuclear reactor to learn about the damage suffered in the tsunami-induced meltdown of 2011 had its mission aborted after the probe ran into trouble, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco). The remote-controlled device was sent on Thursday into the No. 2 reactor where radiation levels had recently hit record highs. But it could not reach its target beneath a pressure vessel through which nuclear fuel is believed to have melted because the robot had difficulty moving. The Japanese government expects the total costs of cleaning up Fukushima will reach 21.5 trillion yen (US$189 billion) in a process likely to take decades because of high radiation levels.