A 3D radiation image display on a simple virtual reality system created using a game development platform

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., suffered a meltdown after a large tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The measurement of radiation distribution inside FDNPS buildings is indispensable for executing appropriate decommissioning tasks in the reactor's buildings. In addition, it is extremely important to accurately predict the location of radioactive contamination beforehand because the working time is limited owing to radiation exposure to workers. In this paper, a simple virtual reality (VR) system that can detect radioactive substances in virtual space has been developed to simulate real working environments. A three-dimensional (3D) photo-based model of the real working environment, including an image of the radioactive substance, was imported into the virtual space of the VR system. The developed VR system can be accessed using a smartphone and a cardboard goggle. The VR system is expected to be useful for preliminary training of workers and for recognizing radioactive hotspots during decommissioning of the work environment.