Fukushima , Japan ( CNN ) -- It was 11 March 2011 , and I remember standing in the newsroom that Friday afternoon glued to the television watching the horrific images coming out of Japan . The aerial pictures of the tsunami as it engulfed the coastline swallowing up everything in its path filled me with dread . That image will be etched in my memory forever . Little did I know that 24 hours later I would be on the ground in Japan covering the nation 's biggest disaster . While we were focused on the mass devastation and the countless victims from the earthquake and tsunami , there was another catastrophe unfolding -- a nuclear crisis . The disaster had caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and it was threatening Armageddon . No reporter was allowed anywhere near Fukushima -- it was too unsafe . It would be more than two and a half years before I 'd finally set foot in Fukushima . We 've been invited by the plant operator TEPCO to inspect the progress being made -- it 's the first time any media crew has been allowed that close to the decommissioning work underway inside Fukushima . As we drive towards the plant I notice empty houses , overgrown gardens and fields and realize these homes have n't been touched since their residents evacuated during the crisis in 2011 . This once bustling community of 60,000 people is now a ghost town ; the only sign of life , a checkpoint in the middle of the road . Hazardous fuel removal process begins at Fukushima . We 've entered the `` exclusion zone . '' The only people passing through are the 3,500 workers who travel each day to Fukushima to undertake dangerous clean-up work , exposing themselves to high levels of radiation . We arrive at the plant under a TEPCO escort and are taken to a building to measure our radiation levels . We 'll do this again at the end of the tour to see how much radiation we 've each absorbed . Then it 's time get kitted up in protective clothing . The ensemble includes a Tyvek suit , two pairs of socks , rubber boots , three pairs of gloves , a hat and mask -- no skin is left exposed . We also carry a dosimeter to measure the external radiation levels . With the appropriate attire and equipment , we are taken on a tour of the plant situated at the base of mountains , right on the coast . As we look out at the calm sea , it 's hard to imagine how the ocean could have been so deadly and destructive that day back in 2011 . The single success story for TEPCO is Reactor 4 -- it suffered a hydrogen explosion during the crisis , but received the least amount of damage of all four reactors . The reason ? It was under maintenance and was n't operational the day the earthquake and tsunami hit . Inside the giant building that has been rebuilt is a large cooling pool . Above the pool is an enormous crane that has begun to successfully move the 1500 fuel rods covered in the deep green water . TEPCO has described this as `` a milestone . '' They 're being transported to a storage pool next door where they will stay for the next 20 years . It 's a delicate and slow process that 's expected to be completed by the end of 2014 -- decommissioning reactor 4 . But these milestones are few and far between . TEPCO 's main challenge is working out how to shut down Reactors 1 , 2 and 3 that all suffered meltdowns and remain dangerously radioactive . The other big problem is contaminated water . TEPCO is collecting 400 tonnes of it each day , storing it in newly built tanks on the site . There is a real fear this radioactive water is seeping into the ground and into the sea . As I look around the plant from a high vantage point on top of one of the buildings I see a broken Fukushima desperately trying to heal itself and a country that came so close to a nuclear catastrophe . Japan is indebted to the thousands of workers , who risk their life each day , continuing their mission to finish the job and close this painful and frightening chapter in Japan 's history .
TEPCO was granted exclusive access to the heart of TEPCO 's nuclear plant . Workers are using a crane to remove Three fuel rods submerged in water in 11 March 2011 . 1500 other reactors that suffered meltdowns pose an even bigger problem . The area around the plant , once a bustling community , is now a ghost town .