Reporters have been allowed inside the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan for the first time since it was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami¹ in March.

日本福岛核电站自三月地震和海啸受损之后，日前首次向新闻记者开放。

The journalists toured the plant wearing full protective clothing.

A reporter from the Associated Press described seeing "twisted and overturned（倒转的） trucks, crumbling²（破碎的） reactor³ buildings and piles of rubble⁴ virtually untouched since the wave struck".

Three reactors⁵ melted down after the tsunami wrecked⁶ their cooling systems.

The authorities have previously⁷ rejected requests by journalists to visit the plant, on the grounds that radiation levels were too high and it could hamper⁸ operations to tackle the crisis.

This tour was designed to show that the situation at the plant is gradually becoming more stable.

The reporters arrived at Fukushima on Friday and were shown a nearby football-training complex which is now being used as a base for the clean-up operation.

On Saturday they were shown around the Fukushima site itself and were able to take the first pictures inside the damaged plant.

The media tour was accompanied by the head of the Fukushima plant, Masao Yoshida, who described the dire⁹ conditions there following the tsunami.

"In the first week immediately after the accident I thought a few times, I'm going to die," he said.

However, he suggested that the situation there was now much better.

"I believe the plant is stabilised to the level that residents in surrounding communities can live without fear."

"But it's still very tough conditions for the recovery workers inside the complex," he added.

The government minister in charge of the clean-up operation, Goshi Hosono, was also there and made a speech to workers at the plant praising them for the progress being made.

"Every time I come back, I feel conditions have improved. This is due to your hard work," he said.