YOKOHAMA--Toshiba Corp. unveiled a shape-shifting robot that could finally reveal the actual condition of melted nuclear fuel at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
YOKOHAMA--Toshiba Corp. unveiled a shape-shifting robot that could finally reveal the actual condition of melted nuclear fuel at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
The robot will likely be deployed in August in the No. 2 reactor containment vessel for the first survey underneath a reactor core at the plant, Toshiba officials said at a June 30 demonstration for reporters at its Keihin works here.
Equipped with two cameras and light-emitting diodes, the robot will be tasked with taking pictures of the melted fuel.
More than four years after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami caused the triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant, high radiation levels are still preventing workers from approaching the reactor containment vessels to accurately assess the damage within.
“We hope the robot will gather as much information as possible with the two cameras,” a company official said.
According to Toshiba officials, the probe was developed at the request of the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, an organization consisting of electric power companies and nuclear reactor manufacturers.
To pass through narrow spaces, the probe transforms into a 54-centimeter-long tubular shape that measures 9 cm in width and 9 cm in height.
The back part of the robot, which contains one of the cameras, can be rotated to take pictures from different angles.
The device can also right itself if it overturns, Toshiba said.
The probe will enter the central part of the containment vessel through a rail link and operate on the iron-mesh floor beneath the reactor core.
The robot can identify objects up to 3 meters away, even in poor visibility caused by steam or other factors, according to Toshiba.
Robotic probes developed by another company were used to survey the No. 1 reactor containment vessel at the plant in April, but those devices did not enter areas directly underneath the reactor core.
One got stuck between obstacles on the floor, rendering it inoperable.
A monitoring camera installed in the containment vessel to control the second robot later malfunctioned because of high radiation levels, forcing plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to give up its plan to retrieve the robot.