2017年CRI Robot helps to clear storing nuclear waste

An aquatic 1 robot is being tested in Japan ahead of being deployed 2 into the damaged core of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The robot is able to locate and clear materials in places which are inaccessible 3 to humans.

Named Avexis - short for Aqua Vehicle Explorer for In-situ Sensing - the robot is designed to explore radioactive areas.

Doctor Simon Watson, lecturer in robotic systems at University of Manchester, said Avexis offers a far more cost effective solution than other nuclear inspection 4 robots.

"What we're trying to develop are small, low-cost and disposable mobile robotic systems that can be used in hazardous 5 environments. This vehicle here is Avexis, which is the Aqua Vehicle Explorer for In-Situ Sensing, and it's been designed to characterize and explore nuclear storage facilities or nuclear disaster areas. So the two areas that we're primarily focused on are the legacy 6 ponds at the Sellafield site in the UK and the Fukushima site in Japan."

Avexis is specially 7 designed to fit through spaces of just 150 millimeters and the cheapest model costs about 13,000 dollars.

A similar version of the Avexis robotic platform is being used to help dislodge and clear waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo at Sellafield, the largest nuclear site in Europe as well as the site of Britain's worst nuclear accident in 1957.

The robot has cameras for sending images and it can also clear away small bits of waste clinging to the silo wall.

"Primarily it's visual inspection, so we've got an HD camera in the front of it. But we also want to get more information about the environment. So, this version which is being developed for monitoring or characterizing Fukushima; it will have a gamma radiation sensor 8 and a neutron 9 detector 10 so that we can detect the types of radiation down there. We're also going to be mounting an acoustic 11 sonar underneath 12 the bottom of it so we can map the floor areas to find out where objects of interest are."

The mission is hazardous even for a robot, as the radio-active cocktail 13 could pose a risk to its electronics.

But the first pictures show "Avexis" has successfully made its debut 14 journey.

"This one here, this can be deployed through 150 millimeter port opening, we've also got versions that are down to 100 millimeters. In terms of radiation we need to make sure that they're robust 15 to the effects of radiation, but the approach that we're trying to take is to make them low-cost and to understand how long they will last in a radioactive environment. If it only lasts for two hours but it costs significantly less than a big expensive one then we could put several of these in over a period of time to get the data out that we need."

In July, Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of Fukushima nuclear plant, released video footage suggesting there may be nuclear fuel inside the damaged No. 3 reactor 16, one of three that had meltdowns in the 2011 disaster.

In early October Avexis was successfully tested at the Naraha research facility, located approximately 15 km from Fukushima Daiichi.

Further tests are ongoing 17, ahead of eventual 18 deployment 19 into Fukushima's damaged nuclear core.