I was at Fukushima Daiichi on Monday, and they explained that they only want to take a few grams of the melted material to test the composition of the melted fuel/debris, e.g. what elements are in it.
Even just planning to remove all of the melted fuel is a long way away.
I can't remember if they were talking about Unit 1 or Unit 2, but from what I understood is that due the collapsed rubble above/around the reactor, they only have a very narrow opening, which means they've struggled to use larger robots.
And I believe the robot operating centre is a bit of a distance away from the reactors too (probably so that the robot operators don't need to wear protective equipment).
> What they need is a sort of "anteater-tongue machine" that just will try each crevice until finding the correct path.
I think the problem is that once you get through all the debris, there's a big cavern. Hence why they're using some sort of crane robot on a rope (it reminds me a bit of a [claw machine game][1]).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claw_machine
Even just planning to remove all of the melted fuel is a long way away.
I can't remember if they were talking about Unit 1 or Unit 2, but from what I understood is that due the collapsed rubble above/around the reactor, they only have a very narrow opening, which means they've struggled to use larger robots.
And I believe the robot operating centre is a bit of a distance away from the reactors too (probably so that the robot operators don't need to wear protective equipment).
> What they need is a sort of "anteater-tongue machine" that just will try each crevice until finding the correct path.
I think the problem is that once you get through all the debris, there's a big cavern. Hence why they're using some sort of crane robot on a rope (it reminds me a bit of a [claw machine game][1]).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claw_machine