A robot sent to the reactor at Fukushima (Φουκουσίμα) για να επιθεωρήσει και να καθαρίσει το πυρηνικό εργοστάσιο αναγκάστηκε να τελειώσει απότομα την αποστολή του μετά από την υπερβολική ακτινοβολία που δέχθηκε, η οποία του "έψησε" την camera.
According to the Associated Press, was the first time a robot entered her reactor units 2 after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The cleanup robot was recalled after just two hours of shipment after having exacted an estimated 650 sieverts radiation per hour, according to the noise analysis of the images transmitted by the robot before its camera darkened. The robot is designed for up to 1.000 cumveraging exposure sieves.
The Associated Press reports that this level of radiation kills a human being instantly. Once the cameras started malfunctioning, the team decided to pull the robot back before it lost control completely. Images taken of the chamber before the robot's failure showed layers of melted paint, cable insulation, and metal railings.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said the robot was developed to observe and clean the passage with a high-pressure water nozzle. pressureand so the team could send another robot to assess the structural damage. But pulling the first robot early means that the tracking machine will have more work to do in less time, since both robots are designed to withstand the same amount of radiation.
High levels of radiation may seem worrying, but there is good news: there are no reports of new leaks from the plant. This means that the radiation should not affect nearby residential areas. Higher levels of radiation could also mean that the robot went closer to the exact point of the source of the radioactivity, so the next one to be sent is better able to properly remove the molten fuel.
