Robots go where workers safely cannot in Japan's nuclear power plant By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.18.16 Word Count 817 A remote-controlled robot that looks like an enlarged fiberscope crawls down into the mock-up of a primary containment chamber of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, during a demonstration for the media at a government facility in Hitachi, Japan, Feb. 5, 2015. Photo: AP/Shizuo Kambayashi TOKYO, Japan Hiroshi Endo spent 10 years building a robotic arm for the International Space Station. His next challenge, designing a robot to clean a nuclear power plant, made that one look easy. Endo is a 61-year-old retired engineer at Hitachi. In 2011, Endo began designing a robot to help clean the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The plant was the site of the March 11, 2011, meltdown that was one of the worst nuclear crises in history. Creating A Radiation-Proof Robot It is not safe for people to clean up after a nuclear meltdown, which can release large amounts of deadly radiation for many miles. Even a small amount of radiation is harmful to living things. A robot, however, can be built to survive radiation. As Endo found out, building a robot to survive radiation is much harder than designing one for space. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1
In space, you ve got the sun, the moon, the Earth, temperatures. These are very definite, very specific they re not going to change, Endo said. But nuclear (reactors) are manmade. What s going on inside the reactor is totally unknown, after the disaster. The operational environment is very different than space it s much harder. Robots are important to Japan s efforts to inspect, clean up and decommission, or shut down, the damaged nuclear reactors. Sending In Robots Keeps Workers Safe Experts say that more than 100 kinds of robots are working at Fukushima that can fly, walk, crawl and move underwater. They brave dust, wreckage and levels of radiation that could kill a human being. Lake Barrett said that without robots, people would be exposed to a lot more radiation. Barrett is an American nuclear energy expert. He has consulted for top Japanese officials on the cleanup program. Barrett said there are two types of robots. "Diagnostic robots inspect the interiors of the buildings and reactors. "Working robots" do physical labor such as clearing wreckage and removing the fuel rods that powered the reactors. They have (robots) that shoot dry ice to absorb radiation, Barrett said. Some shoot highpressure water some have carbide teeth that chip away at concrete surfaces, which are the most contaminated part, and suck the chips up in a vacuum cleaner. The robots are built by companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi and the U.S.-based company, irobot. Barrett said that much of the technology used in these robots could be spun off into regular society. This includes tiny cameras, tiny flying robots, or technology that can send information through concrete walls. Too Dangerous For Humans Several engineers said that widespread anger over the disaster has hurt their public image. Engineers can do wonderful things with robots." However, "when it comes time to ask, how do we talk to people about this? How do we explain what the risks are? That s a big challenge, Barrett said. The plant s operator is the Tokyo Electric Power Company, also known as Tepco. Tepco has declared the plant to be safe enough for thousands of employees to continue working there. These workers are busy pumping water into the reactors to cool them and storing the radiated water in large storage tanks. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2
Yet areas surrounding the reactors that have been declared too dangerous for humans remain abandoned. Many people who used to live in the city of Fukushima refuse to return home. They blame Tepco for neglecting safety standards while designing the plants and failing to contain the damage from the meltdowns. They consider the disaster to be manmade. Tepco s plan to shut down the plants will take 40 years and cost $15 billion. Low Expectations Can Only Get Better Endo, the Hitachi engineer, says working on robots for space was full of glory and always made him feel good. But with nuclear work, he said, "we re starting at the very bottom Those who are working in decontamination are working really hard. However, their public image is really bad, and that s frustrating. People just don t want to hear that this is going to take 50 years. Fukushima has six reactors, half of which melted down in the disaster. Hitachi is developing inspection robots for the Unit 1 reactor. Toshiba is making robots for Unit 2. In April, Hitachi sent two slithering snake robots to explore Unit 1. One got stuck and failed; neither spotted melted fuel pieces. Terai Fujio is a chief research scientist for Toshiba. His team has been developing a 10- inch-long robot with cameras, sensors and a scorpion-like tail to investigate Unit 2. Toshiba has also developed a robot that can move through water. It will be used to remove fuel rods from the rubble of Unit 3. Sekiguchi Koichi, a Toshiba developer, said that they have been training for every type of situation. They are prepared to fail, over and over, before they get it right. Computers just freeze up from time to time, and so do robots, he said. There s no 100 percent guarantee of anything. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3
Quiz 1 What is the BEST summary of the section "Sending In Robots Keeps Workers Safe"? What's most exciting about the new technology being developed for the power plant is that it could be used in regular society, too. Engineers are creating many different types of robots with special abilities to help clean up the power plant and protect humans from radiation. There are many different experts working on the Japanese power plant. They have brought in different companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, and irobot. Radiation is extremely harmful to humans, which is why the experts are using robots. There are some robots that shoot dry ice, and others that shoot high-pressure water. 2 Which paragraph would be MOST important to include in the article's summary? Experts say that more than 100 kinds of robots are working at Fukushima that can fly, walk, crawl and move underwater. They brave dust, wreckage and levels of radiation that could kill a human being. Engineers can do wonderful things with robots." However, "when it comes time to ask, how do we talk to people about this? How do we explain what the risks are? That s a big challenge, Barrett said. Fukushima has six reactors, half of which melted down in the disaster. Hitachi is developing inspection robots for the Unit 1 reactor. Toshiba is making robots for Unit 2. In April, Hitachi sent two slithering snake robots to explore Unit 1. One got stuck and failed; neither spotted melted fuel pieces. Computers just freeze up from time to time, and so do robots, he said. There s no 100 percent guarantee of anything. 3 What is MOST likely the reason why the author included the information about Hiroshi Endo's experience building robots for space? to show how qualified Hiroshi Endo is, which makes the reader respect him and his perspective more to show that the focus of the article was Hiroshi Endo and his engineering skills in different environments to emphasize just how difficult it is to build robots for the power plant, by comparing this task with building robots for space to emphasize the power of engineers, since they get to work on such exciting and challenging jobs such as space robots and saving a power plant This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4
4 Which answer choice BEST represents how the Japanese public currently feels about the plant and the people working on it? sad but grateful frustrated but hopeful depressed and anxious angry and disappointed This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5