Mari Yamaguchi

Associated Press

Images from a remote-controlled submersible robot show damaged areas inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Fukushima, Japan. The robot captured images of what appears be mounds of damaged fuel that had melted and fell to the bottom of the hardest-hit reactor at the nuclear plant for the first time since the 2011 disaster.

Robot Photos Show Melted Fuel at Fukushima Reactor

Mounds of nuclear fuel melted and fell to the bottom of the most damaged reactor.

In this Feb. 27, 2021, file photo, tanks (in gray, beige and blue) store water that was treated but is still radioactive after it was used to cool down spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan.

Fukushima Plant Failed to Probe Cause of Faulty Filters

24 out of 25 filters attached to the water treatment equipment had been found damaged.

In this April 13, 2021, file photo, environmental activists wearing a mask of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and protective suits perform to denounce the Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive Fukushima water, near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Japan’s government adopted an interim plan Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021 that it hopes will win support from fishermen and other concerned groups for a planned release into the sea of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.

Japan Seeks Support for Fukushima Nuclear Water Release

The government decided in April to start discharging the water into the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2023.

In this May 9, 2021, file photo, a security guard wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks in front of the Olympic Rings, in Tokyo. Japan, seriously behind in coronavirus vaccination efforts, is scrambling to boost daily shots as the start of the Olympics in July closes in.

Japan's Vaccine Push Ahead of Olympics is Too Late

The head of the Japan Doctors Union says hosting could spread a Tokyo variant.

This computer graphics image released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above the asteroid Ryugu. The Japanese spacecraft is nearing Earth after a yearlong journey home from a distant asteroid carrying soil samples and data that could provide clues to the origins of the solar system, a space agency official said Friday, Nov. 27, 2020.

Spacecraft Carrying Asteroid Soil Samples Nears Home

The samples could provide clues to the origins of the solar system.

The Japanese carrier ship MV Wakashio seen from the coast of Mauritius, Aug. 16, 2020.

Ship Operator to Pay $9M Over Oil Spill

The MV Wakashio struck a coral reef and caused a widespread oil spill off the coast of Mauritius earlier this summer.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, speaks during a meeting on countermeasures against the new coronavirus infections at his official residence in Tokyo Tuesday, March 10, 2020.

Japan Unveils $4B Package to Fight Virus

The package includes subsidies for parents who need to take time off work due to school closures, funding for development of virus vaccines and test kits and for extra production of protective masks.

In this Dec. 3, 2019, file photo, weeds grow in an abandoned apartment complex, in Futaba, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.

Japan Opens Last Off-Limits Town

It has been off-limits due to radiation since the Fukushima nuclear disaster nine years ago.

In this Oct. 12, 2017, file photo, ever-growing amount of contaminated, treated but still slightly radioactive, water at the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is stored in about 900 huge tanks.

Fukushima Water Release to Sea

It is meant to solve a growing problem for the plant's operator.

This March 11, 2012, file photo, shows three melted reactors, from left, Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. Japan revised a roadmap on Friday, Dec. 27, 2019, for the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant cleanup, further delaying the removal of thousands of spent fuel units that remain in cooling pools since the 2011 disaster.

Japan Revises Fukushima Cleanup Plan

The nation is delaying key steps.

In this Nov. 12, 2014, file photo, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) official wearing a radioactive protective gear stands in front of Advanced Liquid Processing Systems during a press tour at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan's economy and industry ministry has proposed gradually releasing or allowing to evaporate massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The proposal made Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, to a body of experts is the first time the ministry has narrowed down the options available to just releasing the water.

Government Wants to Release Fukushima Water

Radioactive water continues to accumulate as water used to keep the cores cool leaks from the damaged reactors and is stored in tanks so it won't escape into the ocean or elsewhere.

This April 15, 2019, file image released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) shows an operation to remove fuel from a cooling pool at Unit 3 of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan’s economy and industry ministry unveiled a draft revision Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, to its decades-long roadmap to clean up the radioactive mess at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was wrecked by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Fukushima Melted Fuel Removal to Begins 2021

Nearly nine years after the accident, the decommissioning of the plant, where three reactors melted, remains largely an uncertainty.