Brokk robot for Fukushima nuclear power plant rescue

       The Fukushima nuclear power plant accident response headquarters, jointly established by the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company, has decided to invest Swedish made Brokk robots in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Previously, the Swedish Brokk robot was responsible for unit abandonment and waste disposal operations in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident; The first nuclear power plant in Japan, Tokai, was also completed by BrokK330 and BrokK180 robots.

In 1998, Brokk robots were decommissioned at the Tokai nuclear power plant

       The earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear leakage accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. In order to quickly clean up the site and dispose of radioactive waste, Japan urgently ordered four Brokk robots for use at the accident site. The robots are required to be able to quickly carry out cleaning, dismantling, and disposal operations under high levels of radioactivity, carry multiple tool heads, and have multiple functions per machine.

       A Brokk90 robot arrived at the site at the end of April and is currently being used for debris removal and other operations in the unit building of Nuclear Power Plant No. 1. Two Brokk330D and one Brokk800 robot were urgently air freighted to Japan on May 2nd.

                                  Brokk robot emergency air freight to Japan                                 

      Due to the high level of radioactivity on site, the three robots Brokk330D and Brokk800 carrying various tool heads will be remotely operated from a control room one kilometer away.

       The robot used this time is a waste sorting and dismantling robot produced by BrkK AB, a Swedish company headquartered in Sweden. This robot is remotely controlled and skilled in retrieving, disposing of radioactive waste, and dismantling nuclear facilities for decommissioning in harsh environments such as high radiation environments or waste incinerators containing harmful dioxin substances. Block Corporation claims that over 200 of its robots are involved in operations at nuclear facilities worldwide.

The robot comes with a built-in camera system, remote control operation, and adopts radiation resistant design and manufacturing. To achieve the purpose of demolition, disposal, and handling, various tools such as grippers and metal cutters are attached to the arms.

Reported by Kyodo News Agency in Japan