Officials in Japan have successfully removed a small piece of melted fuel from inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
According to Tech Xplore, officials from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), which manages the plant, used a remote-controlled robot to remove a small piece from a mound of molten fuel at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor. This is the first piece of debris that's been removed since the disaster occurred 13 years ago.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster happened as a result of a 9.0 earthquake that hit off the east coast of Japan in March 2011 and caused a massive tsunami that, besides flooding the reactors, killed more than 18,000 people.
The "telesco" robot is shaped like a fishing pole and is equipped with tongs at one end, allowing it to pick objects up. TEPCO officials are hopeful that the piece of melted fuel recovered by the robot will provide them with enough data to help them develop a plan to decommission the plant.
Although the operation with the robot was ultimately successful, there were a couple of glitches earlier in the process.
The first problem occurred due to the wrong arrangement of pipes used to push the robot into the primary containment vessel. The second attempt at the operation was suspended because two of the robot's four cameras, which are meant to capture the movements of the clippers that would be used to remove a piece of the debris, weren't transmitting images back to a monitor.
While this particular robot and its mission is uncharted territory, it paves a revolutionary path for cleanup operations in the future following natural disasters. A tsunami caused by a massive earthquake is in a different realm, but extreme weather brought about by the overheating of the planet is becoming more common.
A robot like this could be used in the aftermath of a major hurricane or tornado to clear debris from an area that may be unsafe for people to enter, or it could even be used in rescue missions.
It's too soon to tell exactly how this technology will be used, but its usefulness in the wake of other disasters could be endless.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
