‘Snake’ robot to test nuclear plant

A snake-like robot designed to examine the inside of one of three melted reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is ready to begin its expedition.

Assessing the damage inside the reactors is a crucial step in decommissioning the plant, which was badly damaged by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Use of a remote-controlled robot is essential because no humans can go close to the reactor chambers because of their fatally high radiation levels.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power plans to repair the damaged chambers enough so they can be filled with water in preparation for the removal of melted radioactive debris, in a decade.