Remote Obstacle Removal System at Fukushima Daiichi NPP - 23323

For the retrieval of fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (hereinafter referred to as Fukushima Daiichi NPP), various equipment is being developed. In order to install the equipment inside reactor buildings, it is necessary to remove obstacles (such as pipes, pipe support structures, power panels, cable trays and so on) inside the buildings beforehand. However, many radioactive materials caused by the accident are still left inside the buildings, preventing workers from entering the buildings. Therefore, development of a remotely operated robot system with excellent handling accuracy and handling capability of heavy objects is deemed imperative. In this study, IHI has succeeded in establishing specifications of such robot system by identifying representative obstacles inside the reactor building of Unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP and by verifying the system's performance for removing the representative obstacles via remote operation in the mockup test. (authors)