Remember Fukushima’s robot? In August, this robot began its journey. Nicknamed Telesco, it descended into Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Its mission: collect a tiny sample of nuclear debris. On Thursday, plant officials announced mission success.

In 2011, a tsunami struck Japan. It damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Nuclear fuel melted and spilled out. That created deadly radiation. Thousands of people evacuated nearby homes. The cleanup continues today.

Telesco’s journey was meant to last two weeks. It quickly hit trouble. Workers used long pipes to push Telesco into the nuclear reactor. But they had put the pipes together in the wrong order. It took three weeks to fix the problem.

Then it was full speed ahead—for a moment. The robot’s camera failed. Telesco’s operators couldn’t see to steer the machine. They had to pull the robot out to replace the camera.

Finally, on October 30, Telesco clipped a piece of nuclear debris. Its journey back lasted three days. The robot returned to an enclosed container. Workers in hazmat (hazardous materials protection) suits retrieved the tiny sample.

Just how small is the sample? It’s the size of a grain of rice! Hundreds of tons of waste remain in the reactor.

You might be thinking: Three months? For a grain of rice?

But the little sample will help Japan do big things. Researchers will study the debris. It will help them learn how to clean up the rest.

They will need a few more specks to collect enough data. But this sample is already giving knowledge. Experts at first thought it would be too radioactive to study safely. But it’s far less radioactive than they expected. 

Cleanup will still last at least 30 more years. Some experts say it could take a century or longer.

Japan has a mountain of dangerous debris to move. It will take slow and steady work. But it starts with this little speck. That might remind you of a story from the Bible. Jesus told His disciples that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can move mountains. God uses small things and weak people to accomplish His great works. 

 For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. — Matthew 17:20