New images of the interior of Japan's stricken nuclear power plant have been released, showing the extent of the damage to reactor 4.

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi complex, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) captured the devastation using a camera attached to a crane on March 24.

Steam and smoke could still be seen billowing out of the reactor while water was sprayed onto the building in a bid to keep it cool.