Abstract :
The blast that destroyed Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) 12 years ago prompted a firestorm of scientific, technological, political, and economic proposals for managing the worst nuclear accident to date. Following a meeting of the G-7 nations-the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan-and Ukrainian representatives, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) organized and funded a “dream team” of experts in robotics as well as computer hardware and software for the “Pioneer Project”. Pioneer is a specialized, tethered, bulldozer-like robot equipped with stereo vision for real-time 3D mapping, a core-drilling and sampling apparatus, and an array of radiation and other sensor tools for remotely investigating Unit 4. The team has scheduled Pioneer´s deployment at Chernobyl for November 1998
Keywords :
mobile robots; radiation decontamination; telerobotics; Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant; Pioneer; core-drilling; nuclear accident; real-time 3D mapping; specialized tethered bulldozer-like robot; stereo vision; teleoperated robot; Energy management; Fires; Orbital robotics; Power generation; Power generation economics; Proposals; Robot sensing systems; Sensor arrays; Space technology; US Department of Energy;
