This underwater robot from Toshiba is going to help fix the Fukushima power plant in Japan
YouTube/Japan Times
In 2011, a tsunami initiated by an earthquake caused a massive nuclear meltdown in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Although the Tokyo Electric Power Company has worked to reduce the amount of radiation present in the building, it's still not safe enough for humans to go in and begin removing the 566 fuel rod assemblies, Japan Times reported.
So the company is turning to a Toshiba robot that is capable of going underwater. The remote-controlled robot will clear debris and room the fuel rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool (a storage pool for the fuel made from nuclear reactors) they are currently in.
The robot is equipped with several cameras so that workers can control it from a distance. It comes with two robotic arms that serve different functions.
One allows the robot to pick up debris and cut it into little pieces:
And the other allows it to actually remove the fuel rods.
The robot will make its trip at some point in 2018, but even if it's successful the power plant will still be too unsafe for humans.
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