New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant show exposed steel reinforcing bars in its main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing. The findings have triggered concerns about the reactor’s earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster, 12 years after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant. A spokesperson for the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, says the steel reinforcement islargely intact but the company plans to further analyze the data and images to see if and how it can improve the reactor’s earthquake resistance. About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three reactors.