Japanese industrial IHI Corporation, working for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, has turned to California-based radioactive waste innovator Kurion to develop a robot that will be used in clean-up work at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The new machine, to be named after the power plant for which it is being built, is being described as a dexterous robotic arm. It will be called the Fukushima Repair Manipulator or FRM and it is expected to be deployed by the second quarter of 2016.
The goal of the FRM is to enable workers to clear debris and plug leaks at the toxic site from a safe distance. It will be designed to follow up on inspection work done by the Fukushima Inspection Manipulator, which has been collecting information at the plant through three remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
The FIM will continue its work at the plant. There are an additional seven locations that require inspections – a task expected to be completed in the middle of 2015.
The FRM will be outfitted with water jet and grouting tools to allow it to repair tube leaks identified by the FIM. Among its features will be automatic control sequences that will allow the robot to complete complicated tasks.
The contract represents a coup for Kurion, company president and founder John Raymont said.
“For the past three years, Kurion has applied our innovative technologies throughout the plant to purify hazardous water and identify repair needs. Now, the adoption of Kurion’s Fukushima Repair Manipulator marks another critical step in accelerating the ongoing cleanup of the plant.”
The contract clearly demonstrates the point that decommissioning work requires advanced technological innovations and will further development of creative industrial engineering.
A primary goal of the cleanup work at the plant is to remove radioactive fuel so that less water is needed for cooling. Leaks of radioactive water have been a major concern since the plant was damaged by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami event in March 2011.