Thirteen years post the Fukushima disaster, we're finally getting a peek inside the belly of the beast – or rather, the first nuclear reactor at the Fukushima-1 power plant. Yeah, that's right, after more than a decade since that fateful day in March 2011, TEPCO has bravely ventured where no one has since – inside the irradiated heart of the reactor.

So, how'd they do it? Robots and mini-drones were the heroes of the hour, sent on a mission to explore the reactor's active zone and its molten nuclear fuel. The main aim? To scope out the state of the spent fuel, making its removal and the plant's decommissioning a tad easier. And guess what? For the first time, the cleanup crew snagged pictures from inside the reactor's pedestal.

The pics have sparked curiosity among researchers, especially about the mysterious orange structures resembling boulders or fused icicles. The best guess? It's either molten fuel or equipment – the remnants of a nuclear nightmare.

But here's the kicker – Reactor 1 isn't the only cleanup headache. Meltdowns also rocked Reactors 2 and 3, and Reactor 4 got caught in the crossfire with a blast from Reactor 3, despite being fuel-free at the time. With an estimated 880 tons of molten fuel debris spread across the three afflicted reactors, the cleanup saga is far from over.

☢️ @science