A TERRIFYING drone video has revealed the first glimpse inside ground zero of the second worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen.
The eerie footage shows the melted wreckage of the hardest-hit Fukushima reactor that helped spew radioactive nuclear fuel across northeastern Japan 13 years ago.
On March 11, 2011, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake - the largest ever to hit Japan - sparked a monstrous tsunami that led to the deaths of 18,500 people across Japan.
Horrifying 133ft waves travelling at 700km/h smashed into the northeastern coast of the country, crashing into the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
It destroyed the plant's cooling systems, leading to the meltdown of three reactors, which spilled nuclear fuel across land and sea as 230,000 people ran for their lives.
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Fukushima - once known for its fish and sake - suddenly became a name uttered with the same level of notoriety as Chernobyl.
Now, images taken by miniature drones from deep inside the worst-hit No.1 reactor show the epicentre of the catastrophe which scarred Japan.
Displaced control equipment, misshapen materials and blackened ladders are buried amongst the mangled concrete.
But the clip leaves many unanswered questions, scientists say, as they attempt to decommission the plant which still contains over 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel.
The 12 photos released by the plant's operator are the first from inside the hardest-hit No. 1 reactor's primary containment vessel - an area directly under the reactor's core.
Officials had spent years trying to reach the area to examine the core and melted nuclear fuel.
Earlier attempts with robots were unable to reach the area.
The two-day probe using tiny drones was completed last week by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), who have now released the footage.
TEPCO is trying to learn more about the leftover radioactive sludge so it can be removed and the plant with its three damaged reactors can finally be decommissioned.
The high-definition images show brown objects of various shapes and sizes dangling from various locations in the dark world underneath No.1 reactor.
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Parts of the control-rod drive mechanism, which controls the nuclear chain reaction, and other equipment lie on the floor.
TEPCO officials said they were unable to tell from the images whether the dangling lumps were melted fuel or melted equipment without data such as radiation levels.
The drones had to be lightweight to move between the obstacles and did not carry dosimeters to measure radiation.
The drone's couldn't spot the bottom of the reactor core due to the darkness, officials said.
Now, the probe should allow scientists to begin developing technology and robots to help remove the radioactive fuel.
The daunting decommissioning process has already been delayed for years by technical hurdles and the lack of data.
But in the wake of the drone investigation, a large amount still remains unknown about the interior of the reactors.
Critics say the 30-40 year target for the plant's cleanup set by the government and TEPCO is overly optimistic.
Meanwhile, over 130 tons of water is said to be contaminated by it every day.
In 2017, heart-breaking images revealed an abandoned ghost town next to the Fukushima plant six years on from the devastating nuclear accident.
Classrooms sit frozen in time, empty with children's coats and bags still hung up, and pencil cases on the desk.
In another shot, a calendar is hung on the wall, still stuck on March 2011 - the date when the disaster happened.
The city's shops are completely empty as stock lies untouched on the shelves in the no-go zone.
Japan's government has tried to urge people to return to their destroyed homes but the village is still in an exclusion zone.
