Robot finds possible melted fuel inside Fukushima reactor

This handout video grab taken with an underwater robot and provided by Japan's International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning on July 21 shows a part of the pedestal wall inside reactor No. 3 at Fukushima nuclear power plant.-AFP

Tokyo (AFP) - Lava-like rocks believed to be melted nuclear fuel have been spotted inside Japan's stricken Fukushima reactor by an underwater robot, the plant's operator said at the end of a three-day inspection.

Large amounts of the solidified lumps and deposit were spotted for the first time by the robot on the floor of the primary containment vessel underneath the core of Fukushima's No. 3 reactor, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said.