VRdose: an exposure dose evaluation system based on virtual reality technology - current status and future possibilities

The Fugen Nuclear Power Station (NPS) was shut down permanently in March 2003, and preparatory activities are underway to decommission the Fugen NPS. It is necessary to accomplish the decommissioning economically and rationally by optimizing the workload, exposure dose and waste mass. This is important at the planning stage of the decommissioning. Virtual reality (VR) technology may prove beneficial to this process with regard to minimizing the workers' radiation exposure as well as contributing towards achieving efficient use of manpower. It could also be a valuable tool in the actual dismantling phase. In addition to this, VR provides an effective medium in presentations for public acceptance as well as for communication with relevant engineers. The VRdose project conducted by Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) and Halden Virtual Reality Centre is doing research and development of VR technology for use in the decommissioning process at the Fugen NPS. This is technically an extensive project, touching on many of the present challenges in the VR area such as visual simulation and animation, interaction with objects in a virtual environment and scenario generation and optimisation. This paper describes the present status and future of the system. (Author)