- ess energy storage system
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP)
Toshiba.
Introduced a remote control
On Monday, it hopes to be able to detect the interior of one of the three damaged reactors in the Japanese tsunami --
The Fukushima nuclear power plant was attacked and a large amount of radioactive material melted.
The device is designed to slide down the scalable 11-meter (36-foot)
The long pipe inside the main containment of Unit 2 reactor and the contact with molten fuel.
The reactor was built by Toshiba and General Electric.
Earlier a detector carried a camera to take an image of molten fuel debris in the reactor last year, and robot detectors in the other two reactors detected traces of damaged fuel, but the exact location, the content and other details are still unknown.
Toshiba's energy systems department said that the experiment of the new detector planned for February was the key to determining the appropriate equipment and technology needed to remove fuel debris, it is expected that the most challenging part of the retirement process will take decades.
Three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdown after damaging key cooling systems in the 2011 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
In a survey last year, Toshiba energy systems and solutions developed a camera.
The International Institute for Nuclear retirement has found a large amount of sediment in the area, including parts similar to pebbles or gravel. The 30-centimeter (12-inch)
The long robot, released on Monday, will carry a radiation dose meter, thermometer, LED light, camera and pliers and slowly slide down the pipe.
The probe is connected with a cable on the back, suspended from the pipe and dropped to the bottom of the reactor vessel base, a structure located directly below the core, from which the melted fuel dropped.
Toshiba plans to touch and hold the deposit using the new spare pliers, which can accommodate lumps of 8 centimeters wide (3 inches)
Weighing two kilograms (4. 4 pounds)
Suzuki, project manager of Toshiba ESS group, said on June that in order to investigate its hardness and other details.
"So far we have only seen these deposits and we need to know if they will be interrupted and if they can be extracted," Suzuki said . ".
"It's important to reach the deposit, so we can plan to sample the deposit, which is a key step in the next step.
"The detector will primarily check the physical condition of the fuel debris, rather than the radioactive components or other details that require actual sampling and safe storage.
"We are taking action step by step," said taketomu Takeuchi, senior manager of Toshiba ESS Fukushima retirement program . ".
"First of all, we will find out if these deposits can be withdrawn.
"If the device can't lift anything, it's also a key finding," he said.
In this case, they need a cutting device to tear off the sample.
Tokyo Electric Power and government officials plan to determine later this year how to remove the melted fuel from three damaged reactors so they can start the process in 2021.
_ With The Associated Press at209 Twitter on the Mary pass.
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