The Yomiuri Shimbun
Countries around the world have pitched in with equipment, materials and experts to help bring the critical situation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant under control.
Although radiation levels monitored around the plant are on the decline, fine dust mixed with radioactive materials have been detected in the air.
One way to reduce the risk of radiation exposure is to introduce robots to handle dangerous tasks. The United States has stepped into the breach by offering to dispatch robots to Japan for use in the nuclear plant free of charge.
On Tuesday, the United States airlifted a military robot of the type used for bomb disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan. The robot was manufactured by QinetiQ North America, Inc., a U.S. defense technology company, with funds from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The robot is a remote-controlled, full-tracked vehicle that can navigate on uneven terrain and detect explosives and radiation.
In addition, the United States has dispatched to the Defense Ministry a senior official of a unit dealing with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons and materials, while making preparations to send about 450 personnel specializing in radiation damage control.
Washington has also airlifted 10,000 radiation protection suits and about nine tons of boric acid, a neutron-absorbing agent, to control the uranium fission rate. South Korea and France also are expected to send boric acid.
The disposal of a huge quantity of radiation-contaminated water in and outside buildings housing turbines for the Nos. 1-3 reactors is a priority.
To help deal with this, Areva, a leading French nuclear power company, has dispatched experts to Japan.
Areva processed the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in the No. 3 reactor. The French company once cooperated with Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, in removing radioactive materials from components inside a nuclear reactor at the plant.
Meanwhile, two barges provided by the U.S. armed forces have arrived at Onahama Port, Fukushima Prefecture, carrying about 1,140 tons of freshwater that will be injected into the nuclear reactors.
Sany Heavy Industries Co., a leading construction machinery maker in China, has sent free of charge a truck-mounted concrete pump, worth 80 million yen, to Japan.
Using its 62-meter-long arm, the vehicle will pump water to cool nuclear reactors from above. It arrived in the prefecture Monday.
A German-made concrete air-compressor also is being used to spray water into temporary storage pools for spent nuclear fuel rods.
(Mar. 31, 2011)
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