Why Japan's Nuclear Plants Sacrifice Workers Instead of Robots
The Tokyo Electric Power workers who have put themselves in harm's way to prevent a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been lauded for their decidedly selfless act. There's no doubt they're heroes. But in a country that's a world leader in high-tech automation, in an industry where robots are commonplace, and in a situation where workers are being subjected to massive amounts of radiation, why the heck isn't TEPCO relying more on robots and less on humans?
Reuters offers this non-explanation:
While robots are commonplace in the nuclear power industry, with EU engineers building one that can climb walls through radioactive fields, the electric power company running Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has not deployed any for the nuclear emergency.The answer lies, in part, with the age of the nuclear reactor; and within the Japanese worker culture itself. The nation is known for its technological contributions to the world over the past several decades. And much of that tech has been integrated into its society.Instead, its skeleton team has been given the unenviable and perhaps deadly task of cooling reactors and spent nuclear fuel on their own, only taking breaks to avoid over-exposure.
A science ministry official said a robot used to detect radiation levels is at the site of the accident in Fukushima, north of Tokyo, but nuclear safety agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama said: "We have no reports of any robots being used."
But there's a competing culture in Japan, one that relies on humans for tasks that have given way to automation in the rest of the world. Add an ingrained worker culture that places extraordinary value on selflessness, modesty and consensus-building to the mix, and it's easier to understand how TEPCO could see the low-tech human approach as the right choice.
Nuclear reactors today
TEPCO could use robots to help monitor areas that are too hot or have too much radiation for humans. France's utility EDF has offered to send equipment including robots and detectors to help TEPCO workers gain control of the reactor.
If the Fukushima nuclear facility had been built more recently, there's a good chance it would have had its own robots ready to take on the much of the work that TEPCO's human employees are doing now. Newer reactors often come equipped with emergency robots that have been designed to navigate the plant's corridors and accomplish tasks like close off valves.
Automation certainly doesn't solve every problem. In fact, relying only on technology can create problems of its own. But robots and other automated tech should be part of the solution when the hazards are as intense as fatal doses of radiation. Just ask Robert Orin Charles Kilroy how robots helped him.
Photo from Flickr user andreavallejos, CC 2.0
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