Robots to gauge radiation in Japan's quake-hit plant

Monday, 18 April 2011, 16:31 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Tokyo: The operator of Japan's stricken nuclear plant said it will send two remote-controlled robots into a reactor building damaged by a hydrogen explosion to gauge radiation and temperature levels. Emergency workers battling to stabilise the plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems on March 11 have not been able to enter any of the reactor buildings since the disaster. The explosion, one of several caused when a build-up of hydrogen reacted with oxygen in the atmosphere in the days immediately after the quake blew the roof off the outer structure housing reactor three. A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the two American-made robots would enter the reactor three building to check radiation, temperature, humidity and oxygen levels.
Source: PTI