US sending robots to Japan to help nuclear plant
Baku, March 30 (AZERTAC). The U.S. government is sending some robotic help to Japan to help regain control of the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant.
A top Energy Department official told a Senate panel Tuesday that a shipment of "radiation hardened robotics" will be sent to Japan to assist in the crisis. A department spokeswoman said a robotic device from the Energy Department`s Idaho National Laboratory is being shipped to Japan along with several radiation-hardened cameras.
Peter Lyons, an acting assistant energy secretary, said Japanese officials were "very, very interested" in learning more about the capabilities of U.S robots. The United States is also sending robot operators who would be used to train Japanese operators, Lyons said.
Robots with electronics built to withstand radiation could presumably work in areas where radiation levels would harm or even kill a person. Workers at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have been exposed to high levels of radiation and burned.
Stephanie Mueller, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said remote-controlled robotic machines have been used to conduct environmental cleanup and other activities in contaminated environments, although not at a compromised nuclear reactor such as the ones in Japan.
The device being shipped to Japan is equipped to provide visuals, radiological surveys and mapping data in areas of the plant that are not accessible to humans due to potential elevated radiation levels that are above recommended safety guidelines.
In addition to the robots, the Energy Department has sent about 40 employees and more than 17,000 pounds of equipment to Japan, Lyons said.
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