Saturday, July 2, 2011

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: "Warrior" Robot Vacuumed Reactor 3 Floor, Radiation Still Very High

Yomiuri Shinbun reports that the "Warrior" robot from iRobot went inside the reactor building for the Reactor 3 to vacuum the highly radioactive (or so TEPCO thought) sands accumulated on the floor right off the truck entrance.

It completed the task, braving the high radiation (more than 100 millisieverts/hour in some spots) on July 1. It took the robot 5 hours to collect dust and sand in 3 200-liter containers.

Unfortunately, the radiation level in the area only went down by 10 to 20 millisieverts/hour, and TEPCO is considering laying down the steel plates on the floor to see if they block the radiation.

See "Warrior" in action, as videoed by the fellow iRobot "Packbot", which was then screen-captured by TEPCO on a notebook PC screen:

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that went down without a glitch.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Hehehe. The "glitch" this time was that the radiation didn't go down despite the brave effort. Or was the cleaning for something else, I wonder.

Anonymous said...

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...
Hehehe. The "glitch" this time was that the radiation didn't go down despite the brave effort. Or was the cleaning for something else, I wonder.


I know you are thinking the same thing as I am...upper management sent in the iRobot to really look for loose change.

pat said...

Nothing happened, the glitch was the vacuum didn't work.

It picked up radioactive sand and blew radioactive dust all around.

If only a few dozen contractor employees hadusedswiffers instead

Antony said...

Er... is that a 'robot' or a remote-controlled vacuum cleaner?

MontgomeryScott said...

I didn't know that the TEPCO executives had a ROOMBAH!
It's still a little dusty. Send in the I-SHAM-WOW!

Would a HEPA filter addition block radiation outflows?
'I, Robot' looks like 'I, Vacuum'!
'Sucking up radiation, one millisievert at a time!'

#1 was still 'hot' at the time of the earthquake, wasn't it?
Funny thing...
Nuclear reactions and nano-thermite are not slowed down by mere water.
They mind as well be vacuuming the face of the Sun.

GOD HELP the people of Japan, if this is the best that the most intelligent minfs ob the face of the Earth can come up with...

Anonymous said...

Tell the damned thing to do an actinide analysis while it's it there.

lol


And hey, the goofballs with the CAPTCHAs control, you ain't it!

lol

Anonymous said...

by fusefiz,
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=5fd81211ad97ccf5b394274610f00f28&t=480200&page=42

"The French analysis also concludes that the "biological shield" (i.e., the concrete plug) is missing in reactor 3 (but still present in reactor 1, where the roof has apparently been completely blown away leaving a clear view of the refueling deck). .. under this shield there would still be the drywall head, and under that would be the cap on the reactor pressure vessel.

.. So suppose there is reduced shielding over the reactor 3, and possibly reduced shielding over its spent fuel pool. Could this explain the strong radiation detected by the helicopters over the reactors? I.e., this would be gamma radiation from reactor 3 and possibly its pool, .. I believe some of this gamma radiation would be also be reflected down to earth around the reactor by the damaged structural beams. And if this is the case, reactor 3 will be difficult to deal with and eventually clean up."

The concrete plug is probably one of the structures seen flying through the air in the explosion at #3, appeared to be thick rebar-reinforced concrete.

Anonymous said...

by Arcer,
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=57974f0cedc6ccd1f40024c4421a7fea&t=480200&page=43

"1. Hydrogen from the reactor leaking into the SFP area as you describe and it explodes.

2. That first explosion pressures the already leaking gate leading back into the concrete containment vessel (which is already full of hydrogen) sufficiently to blast/lever the gate open enough for the first explosion to set off a second explosion within the concrete containment vessel.

3. That second explosion rips open the steel containment to the reactor which sets off a third explosion.

That would explain the off centre sideways flash of the first explosion and then the rapid succession of the vertical explosions centred on the reactor.

In favour of there actually being three explosions is the way the dust cloud seemed to gain extra upwards momentum each time an explosion was heard."

We watch water vapor form microenvironments all the time, like wetting a bowl interior, turning it upside down with possibility of air circulating under the rim, come back hours later and finding water on the inside surface still. Done while wetting a second bowl and setting it down interior up and the second bowl is dry in the same time period.

Hydrogen pockets could explode sequentially that way.

Now explain the color of the explosion gases, and the extra energy?

4. Third explosion rips open RPV.

Anonymous said...

"4. Third explosion rips open RPV already compromised by internal pressures well beyond spec for pressure control valves."

fixed it, for myself

Anonymous said...

http://www.grs.de/sites/default/files/04710042klein.jpg
picture of fuel rods that are bundled together in an assembly, called a fuel rod


by Tcups,
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=480200&page=44
".. this is what I think a smashed fuel rod assembly within the rubble after the blast might look very much like."

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn270/tcups/903a9527.jpg

Remember that uranium is very dense, could withstand an explosion without necessarily disintegrating.

Now we're getting somewhere.

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