Robot begins mission to retrieve melted fuel from Fukushima nuclear plant

An extendable robot has begun a two-week mission to retrieve the first sample of melted fuel debris from inside one of three damaged reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Picture: Kyodo News/AP

An extendable robot has begun a two-week mission to retrieve the first sample of melted fuel debris from inside one of three damaged reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Highly radioactive fuel and other materials in the reactors melted when a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 damaged the plant’s cooling systems.