Cleaning up Fukushima after the nuclear radiation mess in 2011 has proven to be a challenging feat that not even robots can handle. High radiation levels caused the machines to malfunction repeatedly every time a probe is sent out to inspect the site.
The Japanese company that is in charge of the cleanup admitted that the robots keep failing.
It is believed that an estimate of 600 tons of toxic fuel may have leaked out from the reactor, following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Before the cleanup was done, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) needed to assess the location and the extent of the leakage. It sent out “scorpion” robots to do the job because the radiation levels are too high for any human being to survive.
The latest attempt to gather data on the leakage failed after a Toshiba-designed robot “died” five times faster than expected due to the high radiation levels. The robot was designed to withstand 73 sieverts of radiation, but it turned out that there was a recorded 530 sieverts inside the reactor.
Robots havebeen sent to cleanup but they keep malfunctioning due to high radiation levels.
The Fukushima incident has taken over 15,000 lives.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster resulted from the tsunami and earthquake in 2011. It has taken the lives of more than 15,000 people. Residents of the area had to abandon their homes.
The cleaning effort has been going on for six years with a cost of $35 billion. The cleanup is expected to last into 2050s.