A remotely - controlled automaton sent to scrutinise and houseclean a damage nuclear reactor at Japan ’s Fukushima nuclear industrial plant had to be pull early when its onboard camera went dark , the result of excess radiation . The abbreviate mission intimate that radiation levels inside the reactor are even higher than was report last calendar week — and that robots are going to have a infernal region of a time clean house this heap up .
Last hebdomad , Gizmodoreportedthat radioactivity levels inside the containment vas of reactor No . 2 at Fukushima make a jaw - discharge 530 sieverts per hour , a floor mellow enough to vote out a human within second . Some Japanese regime officials questioned the reading because Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding ( TEPCO ) forecast it by looking at camera interference on the automaton send in to investigate , rather than mensurate it directly with a geiger counter or dosimeter .
It now appears that this initial estimation may have been too low . Either that , or TEPCO ’s robot is getting secretive to the melted fuel — which is very probable . High radiation recital near any of the used fuel are to be carry .
Yesterday , that same remotely lock robot had to be pulled when its camera began to fail after just two hours of photograph to the radiation inside the damaged reactor . consequently , TEPCO has revised its appraisal to about 650 sieverts per minute , which is 120 more sieverts than what was calculated lately last month ( although the novel estimate come with a 30 pct gross profit margin of misplay ) . The golem is design to withstand about 1,000 accumulate sieverts , which given the nonstarter after two hour , jibes well with the camera noise . This likely means that the liquified fuel burn through its pressure watercraft during the meltdown in March of 2011 , and is sitting somewhere nearby .
It ’s important to bespeak out the the radiation is contained within the plant , and is not affecting regions nearby . There are no newfangled leaks from the readiness , nor is radiation sickness leaking into the air or sea . Also , the radioactivity levels inside the plant are not increasing ; the levels are getting higher because TEPCO is fuck off closer to the source of the radiation , namely the melted fuel . The previous upper reading , of 73 sieverts , was recorded back in 2012 from a much greater distance .
Yesterday , TEPCO sent the robot into reactor No . 2 to do some explorative work and to prepare the website for a succeeding investigation . It was the first time that a robot had entered the reactor since the earthquake and tsunami tragedy six years ago . The robot was supposed to clean a thick-skulled layer of soil cogitate to be the melted turn of paint and cable insulation under the pressure vessel , which holds the nuclear reactor core . The company is seek to clean the passage before another golem is send in to guide a more thorough investigating . A 2d robot , dub the “ scorpion , ” is schedule to measure radiation and temperature inside the nuclear reactor , and to assess the experimental condition of reactor and the melted fuel .
But before that can happen , the transit way needs to be clear . TEPCO ’s white - up robot , equipped with a gamey - insistence water heart and a scraper , only live part way into the area underneath the sum that TEPCO want to audit . The probe was able to clean a few pes of the burnt remainder near the outside of the primary containment vas , but it was n’t able to clean more because the deposit were too tough to remove ; the burnt , saturnine dark-brown gunk originate thicker and was harder to withdraw as the robot choke further . After two hours , the robot ’s picture provender dim dramatically , indicating an imminent bankruptcy . Its manipulator abort the mission before losing complete control of the probe .
TEPCO is now worried that the scorpion golem will not be able to pass the space beneath the pressure vessel , and like its predecessor , will not be able to run for very long in the damage flora ( the Scorpio is designed to handle 1,000 total sieverts ) . The mellow level of radiation may force TEPCO , a across the country - owned companionship , to rethink its automaton - based scheme for locating the liquified fuel . The firm is presently in the former stages of a cleanup position that ’s expected to last decade . Until TEPCO live the accurate location of the evaporate fuel , and until it ’s able-bodied to ascertain the structural price in each of the three reactors affected , the company wo n’t be able to decommission the plant and remove the fuel .
[ Japan Times , Canadian Press viaCBC ]
EnergyFukushimaJapannuclear energyScience
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