USA - state-of-the-art robot to help in Chernobyl clean-up

Citation

(1998), "USA - state-of-the-art robot to help in Chernobyl clean-up", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925aab.007

USA - state-of-the-art robot to help in Chernobyl clean-up

USA ­ state-of-the-art robot to help in Chernobyl clean-up

A state-of-the-art robot built by a US team of scientists will begin assessing structural damage at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear reactor next spring, part of an international effort to close the ruined reactor by the next century. The $2 million robot, dubbed "Pioneer", is based on a design the Department of Energy has been used to clean up waste storage tanks Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute is part of the team building the robot along with NASA, the Department of Energy, and federal laboratories. The Chernobyl reactor exploded in 1986 in the world's worst nuclear accident. A concrete shell, called the "shelter", was hurriedly built around the reactor after the accident, but the structure is now cracked. Ukraine has been under international pressure to close the reactor by the year 2000. Earlier this year, the group of seven nations ­ the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA ­ pledged $300 million to help build a new shelter. The roving "Pioneer", the first of its kind at Chernobyl, will locate radioactive "hot spots" and assess the level of structural damage that exists in the reactor, said Maynard Holliday, principal investigator for the project. "This will supplement what's going on (at Chernobyl) now", he said. "It will help us determine how to best conduct the clean-up of the reactor." Holliday said Ukraine has been asking for more technology from the West to assess damage and assist in clean-up tasks at Chernobyl. The robot measures about 3 feet long (one metre) by 3.3 feet high (1.2 metres). It will begin working at the reactor next spring, Holliday said. Artur Korneev, deputy director of the shelter, said there are 200 to 300 workers at Chernobyl daily to maintain monitoring systems and perform decontamination and research. "The major danger is the damage to the structure itself and to the people who might be inside the shelter", he said. "The structure could become unstable ... stabilization is necessary to disassemble it and build a second one." Korneev said radioactive particles released into the air are less than what is released from a reactor that is operating normally. But he said radioactive activity has increased in some waterways, possibly due to debris from the 1986 accident.

(Source: BRA)