Robot stopped moving hours into first inspection of containment vessel, and similar inspection using separate device is postponed. Tepco, which recently conceded that the technology for robots to retrieve the nuclear fuel had yet to be developed, said on Monday it would cut the cables to the stranded robot and postpone a similar inspection using a separate device.
Developed by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, the robot was supposed to be able to function for about 10 hours even when exposed to radiation at levels that would cause ordinary electronic devices to malfunction. link
Yes these robots were designed to operate in the most Extreme Radioactive Environment and What Happened in Just Three Hours?
It had covered 14 of 18 locations when it stalled, about three hours after it began its journey around the vessel, officials said, adding that they had yet to establish the cause of the problem.
More than four years after Fukushima Daiichi suffered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier, radiation levels inside the three reactors are still far too high for humans to enter. link
Just Think, Ask yourself, what levels of Radiation would that be or is there something Else Down There?
It is amazing me that so many people haven't apparently understood what the situation IS out there. The media is incredible about it. As if Fukushima is stable or something. Wow... Wrong!
The melt down cores found equilibrium (hopefully) and stopped at some point. That's all that changed tho. It's still as serious in that way now as it was the day they melted down. I mean, unless I've missed something huge, the slag heaps that were once core rods are still there somewhere....and I sure hope they don't disturb the natural balance too much unless prepared for what happens when the cores turn active again?
You would be amazed at the amount of "citizen scientists" out there with they're own little radiation monitors reporting in from around the US and Canada. They compare it to the EPA's data. It usually goes up some after a rain, or as they call it "hot rain".