China develops first robot for nuke projects

Chinese scientists have developed a robot which can collect foreign matters inside a 22-meter-deep water tank of a nuclear reactor, in addition to other functions.

The robot, a "small guy" about 42 cm long, 19.8 cm wide, 13.8 cm tall and 13.8 kilograms in weight, was specially designed for underwater foreign-matter collection in the nuclear reactor, the first of its kind to be used in China's nuke projects.

It was independently developed by the Chengdu Research Institute of Photoelectricity Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, based in the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Sources with the institute said that a trial operation of the robot proved successful recently at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in south China's Guangdong province.

The robot is able to dive into 22-m-deep water with weak acidity and low nuclear radiation, and has flexible, agile movements and strong gradeability. Its speed can be adjustable within a range between zero and nine meters per second.

Also, the "small guy" is equipped with an underwater creeping machine, a TV camera, a manipulator, a cleaner, an underwater pump and a controller, the source added.

The manipulator, equipped with the robot, is mainly used for collecting screw drivers and other relatively big things. The underwater pump is used to siphon glass fragments and other powder-type residue, the source said.