An unresponsive robot means it's back to the drawing board for officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. in determining how to decommission reactors at their crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
An unresponsive robot means it's back to the drawing board for officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. in determining how to decommission reactors at their crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The sleek, shape-changing robot, which was expected to deliver a preliminary view of the inside of the No. 1 reactor, failed to complete its mission when
TEPCO officials announced April 12 that they had abandoned plans to retrieve the stranded robot as well as postponing the entry of another robot that had initially been scheduled for April 13.
Work will now proceed to cut the cable connecting the first robot to the outside world.
TEPCO had sent in the robot on April 10 to photograph the interior of the reactor containment vessel and record temperatures and radiation levels.
But the failed mission was not deemed a complete waste of time as the robot was able to check on 14 of the planned 18 locations within the containment vessel that were on its initial agenda, said TEPCO officials.
There was no indication as to why the device stalled.
The robot was developed by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning to chart areas inside the containment vessel where humans cannot enter because of high radiation levels.
Measuring 60 centimeters long in its normal state, the
The robot is essential in leading the way for a full-blown investigation scheduled for the end of this fiscal year. It is part of the preparatory work required to eventually retrieve melted nuclear fuel, the toughest part of the decommissioning process.