May-June 2018 NPJ

30 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, May-June 2018 Robot Research and Application By Tokyo Electric Power Company. Source: Tokyo Electric Power Company, website: www.tepco.co.jp/en/ decommision/principles/robot/index-e.html Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) applies remote techniques to stabilize the accident and to support decommissioning process in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. So far, robots have been taking place of humans to research inside reactor buildings and to reflect the results to the plans, which contributes to the reduction of operational risk of radiation exposure. TEPCO is expecting to apply remote techniques further to the operations, such as the decontamination of the high-dose radiation area inside the reactor buildings and the removal of fuel debris from the reactor contaminant vessel or the reactor pressure vessel. Many corporations and organizations, both domestic and overseas have been supporting and cooperatingon robots and the related technologies. TEPCO appreciates those who have been cooperating with them since the accident and would like to promote long-term decommissioning processes steadily with the understanding and cooperation of many. Robots Applied Mainly on the Basement Floor Investigation device for the torus room wall investigates the wall penetration between the reactor building and the turbine building. Investigation device for the upper part of the suppression chambe r and the wall surface of the torus room using a camera or a sonar. Investigation device for the outer lower surface of the suppression chamber (SC-ROV). Survey runner is applied to investigate inside the torus room and obtain laser scanning data. Four-leg Walking Robot investigates around vent pipes inside the torus room.