On the upcoming March 11, eight years will have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Those in charge of the cleanup suggest the effort will take between 30 and 40 years, meaning an entire generation of workers will not see the work completed. The only great hope is robots, specially designed to withstand the hostile radioactive environment and navigate through the debris. The folks at CNET published a special report on the current state of Fukushima and shared a series of images of active and in-development robots.
The Scorpion robot created by Toshiba entered reactor 2 of the Fukushima plant in February 2017. Its mission (programmed for ten hours) was to measure radiation levels and temperature, as well as capture images with a special camera installed in its 'tail.' However, a major obstacle of melted metal prevented it from advancing, and it stopped working in just two hours. Toshiba needed two and a half years to develop the Scorpion, and its failure is a striking example of the difficulties authorities must (and will have to) face in the cleanup process.
The 'Fixing Fukushima' report published by CNET is divided into several installments, and one of them explores the practical value of virtual reality applied to the analysis and containment of the disaster, a very interesting contrast to what we can now call a commercial failure. Still, everything revolves around robots, with their successes, and especially their failures. The unpredictability factor of the debris negates almost all possibility of autonomous operation; therefore, robots must be controlled remotely, but with several failures chained together, there is no shortage of critics who accuse TEPCO of wasting time and money.
Toshiba cut its losing streak in July 2017 thanks to the success of its Sunfish, and the detection of melted fuel in the reactor. The Naraha Center for research and development, worth 100 million dollars, created near the plant essentially confirms that the plan is to continue doubling down on remotely controlled robots. We can only wish them success, but achieving effective containment will take a very, very long time...
Gallery: Robots at Fukushima
