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Fukushima Robot Operator Tells His Story
An anonymous reader writes "An anonymous robot operator at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant has kept a blog describing in candid detail his day-to-day life at the crippled facility, including robot training exercises and actual radiation-survey and clean-up missions. The blog was recently deleted, but some copies existed around the web and IEEE Spectrum has translated and published portions of it in English. The blog shows that although the operators use remote-controlled robots, they have to work in areas of high radiation, using protective gear and shielded trucks. They also rely on a great deal of improvisation, and there have been a few incidents that put the robot missions at risk."
Until March 2011, in our minds, Japan was the leading country when it comes to robots (remember all these Sony exhibitions...).
I cannot help but remember the Tepco wait-and-see attitude after the March 11 tsunami: we were all wondering
- why do they send people instead of robots to work within the power plant perimeter?
- why Tepco doesn't manage to have an army of robots ready to intervene?
- why Tepco took that much time to require international help in this regard?
However, I'm afraid the problem is not only technical.
In these huge Japanese organizations decisions taken at the highest level are often based on a kind of "event grid".
When the "event" matches a deja-vu scenario, or a well-known anticipated situation, the solution will be implemented fast and clean.
But when an unexpected event arises, an incredibly slow and possibly inadequate response is likely to be given.
I always thought "this is Japan - like it or leave it...". But when it comes to radiation in a power plant, I worry.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
After paging through several stories of how exciting it is to learn new skills - even while opposed by dysfunctional management, impossible deadlines, the occasional mistake, and co-workers who insist on running over network cabling, the blog ends with:
Yes, we do. Some things in the technology business - and in humor - are universal.
Thank you, Anonymous Robot Operator-san, for the work you and your team are doing, and for your diligence and honesty in documenting it.
One thing I got out of reading the shorter summary, is that it might be a good idea to build a very compact robot whose sole purpose was to be positioned to relay wireless control signals - or else have wireless nodes that could be dropped behind the robot in a few places to extend range.
Really interesting.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The blog makes several interesting observations. First, operators having to be close to the plant because of communication difficulties. Now I realize I'm being an armchair engineer here, but the first thing I'd have done was to assemble longer cables, or find other means to increase the distance.
If this isn't possible, maybe it's an indication that we need a different control mechanism for these robots. A proprietary protocol would be more difficult to jury-rig than e.g. Ethernet.
Second, shielding. Is there no way to shield the operators? If you have to put a control cabin in a high-radiation environment, why not stack sandbags, drums of water, concrete blocks etc. around it? If necessary, use shipping containers to prefabricate the shielding, so you can minimize exposure time during the installation of the cabin.
Third, the buildings are difficult to access with robots. Tethered robots won't work in elevators (if the elevators even work). I get that you usually want to minimize the holes in the containment structure, but perhaps there should be a bit more foresight going into designing these buildings?