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This is the moment scientists believe they finally might have found a missing uranium fuel rod lost in the radioactive mess that is the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

These new images have been shot by an underwater robot beneath the wreckage of one of three reactors that suffered a meltdown in the combined 2011 Japanese earthquake AND tsunami.

A remote-controlled camera shot both photos and video revealing black lumps covering a grate under the reactor's pressure vessel.

The lumps have been established as not having been there before what became the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

It's believed they may show the melted uranium fuel rods that have eluded discovery under the damaged Number 2 reactor for years - and at this stage are being described as "a big step forward".

Previous attempts locate them using robots failed due to the strength of the radiation making them useless.

Costs related to clearing up the fallout at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have doubled to 21.5 trillion yen (£150bn or US $186.89bn).

(Image: The Asahi Shimbun)

The crippled plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), confirmed last night that the rods might have finally been found beneath the radioactive debris.

If indeed it's established that this is nuclear debris, it paves the way for Tepco - after years of delays and radioactive water leaks which have hampered the decommissioning process - to now remove the melted fuel.

(Image: Arkadiusz Podniesinski/Rex Shutterstock) (Image: Arkadiusz Podniesinski/Rex Shutterstock)

The Fukushima meltdowns leaked radiation over a wide area after a 9-magnitude earthquake struck offshore and created a tsunami that swept across the coastline in March 2011.

Water, food and the air were all contaminated - and more than 18,000 people died.

Another 160,000 people were forced to flee their home.

Many are unlikely to ever return.