clean up is expected to take as long as foirt years, that s 4-0. we were granted rare access inside this plant. this is the closest a journalist has ever been allowed to see the recovery work. we are here inside reactor four at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant that was crippled in the tsunami in 2011 leading to the country s worst nuclear disaster. it was in here there was that massive hydrogen explosion that damaged the building. this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn t actually operating. now, two and a half years later, they say it has reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me is successfully moving 1500 fuel rods in the cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it s a slow and delicate process that will take about a year, but once finished, it will mean this
journalist. she takes us deep inside the nuclear plant to explain the risky clean-up operation in this cnn exclusive. we are here inside reactor 4 at the fukushima daiichi power plant that was severely crippled during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 leading to the country s worst nuclear disaster. it was in here where there was that massive hydrogen explosion that severely damaged the building, that this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn t actually operating. well, now, two and a half years later, tepco says it s reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me is successfully moving 1500 fuel rods in that cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it s a slow and delicate process that will take about a year, but once finished, it will mean that this reactor can be decommissioned. attention will then turn to
than this and where tepco has brought us here. we are in the building that suffered that blast in days after the disaster. this is the cooling pool and inside there there are 1,500 spent fuel rods. what the company is doing is remove those fuel rods to a more stable location, they say. they insist it is a routine and they have done it many times before. the fuel rods will be removed and transferred to a pool 100 meters from the damaged reactor building an operation tepco is calling a milestone in the recovery effort. officials say they do not believe the fuel rods were damaged falling into the pool after the explosion but they won t know for sure until the operation begins. the large pieces of debris have been removed from the pool the plant chief tells us. we used an underwater vacuum cleaner to remove the smaller pieces but there may be tiny pieces left. nearby we show the water storage
risk includes possible loss of principal. a miletone in the cleanup of the fukushima nuclear pow are plant in japan. cnn s paula hancock s got rare access to the facility. reporter: you can t get much closer to the hearts of the fukushima disaster than this. this is why tepco has brought us here. we are in the reactor 4 billing, that suffered the hike roe gen blast. and this is the cooling pool. inside there are 1500 spent fuel rods. what the company is doing over the coming days is to remove them to a more stable location. they say. they insist it is a routine operation, they ve done it many times before. nuclear power, the science and the myths, the focus of a document tear pandora s promise airs tonight 9:00 p.m.
the building that suffered the hydrogen blast in the days after the disaster and this is the cooling pool. there are 1500 spent fuel rods. what the company s doing over the coming days is to remove those fuel rods to a more stable location, they say. they insist it is a routine operation, they ve done it many times before. to remove it reporter: fuel rods removed and twaransferred to 100 meters from the damaged building an operation tepco s calling a milestone in the recovery effort. officials say they do not believe the fuel rods were damaged by debris falling into the pool after the explosion, but they won t know for sure until the operation begins. the large pieces of debris have been removed from the pool, the plant chief tells us. we used underwater vacuum cleaner to remove smaller pieces. nearby shown the water sotorage tanks up close. contaminated water one of