Toshiba's 'scorpion' robot to look into Fukushima reactor

YOKOHAMA, Japan —

A new robot that raises its tail like a scorpion is scheduled to look at melted nuclear fuel inside one of the three wrecked reactors in Japan.

Toshiba Corp, co-developer of the “scorpion” crawler that was demonstrated Tuesday, said the robot will venture into the No. 2 reactor’s primary containment vessel in August after a month of training for its handlers.

Officials hope the robot can see the fuel in the pressure vessel in the middle of the reactor. The fuel hasn’t been located exactly and studied because of the fatally high radiation levels nearby.

The difficult work of decommissioning the Fukushima plant damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami will take decades.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/toshibas-scorpion-robot-to-look-into-fukushima-reactor