February 17, 2017

Robot stuck in Fukushima No. 2 reactor on 1st try, abandoned

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201702170048.html

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The Sasori robot surveys the interior of the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant before getting stuck and being abandoned on Feb. 16. (Provided by International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning)

In the latest hitch in efforts to decommission reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a robotic surveyor became mired in deposits and was lost on its maiden journey on Feb. 16.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant in Fukushima Prefecture, had to abandon the Sasori (scorpion) robot after it became stuck inside the containment vessel of the power station's No. 2 reactor that morning.

The highly touted probe was specially developed for the important task of surveying the interior of the crippled reactor and collecting data to assist in removing the melted fuel.

But with the environment inside too treacherous for a key component in the process, TEPCO’s decommissioning project seems to have come to a standstill.

According to the utility, the robot entered the containment vessel around 8 a.m. It traveled along a 7.2-meter-long rail connecting the outer wall of the containment vessel with its central portion immediately beneath the pressure vessel.

But about 5 meters into its mission, the robot’s controls started to become less responsive. TEPCO believes it was due to deposits and other debris that are blocking the rail entering its drive system.

The operator tugged on the electrical cable connected to the robot and had it pull back to an area along its path with less obstacles, but it ultimately became stuck there.

The robot measured the radiation levels in the area at 210 sieverts per hour, which is lethal enough to kill a human in two minutes. Earlier, the company had estimated the level in the area at 650 sieverts per hour from video footage captured on Feb. 9 by another robot that paved the way for the Sasori.

With the robot completely immobilized, TEPCO gave up on retrieving it around 3 p.m. The operator cut the electric cable and closed the tunnel bored into the wall of the containment vessel, entombing the robot inside.

The probe was cast aside to the edge of the 0.6-meter-wide rail so that it would not impede future surveyor robots.

Had everything gone according to plan, TEPCO would have sent the Sasori onto the grating in the heart of the containment vessel, which is covered in black chunks believed to be melted fuel rods that fell from the pressure vessel above.

The utility had hoped to measure the dosage of these radioactive lumps, as well as capture images of the underside of the pressure vessel, which contains holes from when the nuclear fuel burned through it in the meltdown that was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

(This article was written by Kohei Tomida and Chikako Kawahara.)