#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3: Warrior and Packbot Couln't Complete Their Mission

The "Warrior" robot did measure some air radiation levels at 2.5 meters off the floor, but it couldn't get to the place where TEPCO wants to connect the pipe for nitrogen injection because some work benches and other equipment were in its way.

TEPCO released the diagram showing the radiation level on July 6 when the bots went inside the Reactor 3 building, and the measurements are lower than July 2 data. However, July 6 measurements were taken at 2.5 meters off the floor whereas July 2 measurements were done at 1 meter off the floor. On June 9 it was humans who measured the radiation, without the benefit of the double steel sheets. (I wonder what kind of boots they were wearing. I sure hope their boots had lead or tungsten soles.)

According to Asahi Shinbun, the Warrior robot tried to measure the radiation at the candidate location for the nitrogen injection pipe installation, but it couldn't get there. It took the measurement at 5 meters above the floor near the location, and the radiation there was 50 millisieverts/hour, almost double the radiation at 2.5 meters.

The radiation level at 5 meters is not noted in the TEPCO's diagram below.

TEPCO is considering sending the humans again on July 8. All this in order to comply with the government-mandated July 17 deadline for "stable cooling of the reactors" so that the Kan Administration can proudly announce "Now it's safe for the residents in the planned evacuation zone to come home!"

TEPCO that cannot say "No" to the government; instead, it will send the anonymous human workers in the high-radiation zone.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 3: "Warrior" Robot Is Now a Photographer

"Warrior" the vacuuming robot is now a photographer, using a gamma camera to take photos of the location where TEPCO wants to fit the pipe for the nitrogen injection system (in the dotted circle in the diagram below) for the Containment Vessel in the reactor building for the Reactor 3.

The bot, accompanied by a Packbot who will monitor and record "Warrior", will enter the high-radiation reactor building on July 6.

TEPCO's press handout on July 6:

No information yet from TEPCO as to WHY the area is so radioactive.

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#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:

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: iRobot's "Warrior" to Do the Vacuum Cleaning on Reactor 3 Floor

TEPCO announced on June 30 that the "Warrior" robot from iRobot will vacuum clean the floor of the Reactor 3 reactor building in the area where the high radiation has been detected.

The US-made "Warrior" and Japanese-made vacuum cleaners. (Both Hitachi and Toshiba, TEPCO's affiliate companies at Fukushima I, manufactures vacuum cleaners as well as nuclear reactors...)

The press handout on June 30 says:

"Since radiation dose on the floor is high, we plan to conduct cleaning from July 1 in order to reduce the radiation exposure for the workers, removing the accumulated sand with vacuum cleaners and robots."

Accumulated sand?? From where?

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