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18 June, 2019
MHI Tests Anti-Explosion Robot for Plant Inspections, Capitalizing on Experience Gained in Nuclear Accidents
On June 10, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), announced that it had carried out an operational test of its prototype EX ROVR robot for plant inspections at JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation’s Mizushima Refinery in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, located in western part of Japan.
The robot has “anti-explosion” features intended to minimize the chances that the robot itself, through sparks or heat, might ignite an explosion or fire when operated in an explosive atmosphere such as flammable gas. There is an increasing need for such robots to save manpower in patrolling oil refineries and the like.
MHI’s experience with robotic technologies includes the successful development of radiation-resistance and remote-control capabilities in response to the JCO criticality accident in September 1999 and the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants in March 2011. Based on those experiences, the company has been developing robots for patrolling and inspecting oil and chemical plants, and as a means to respond to infrastructure disasters.
The design o...more
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21 May, 2019
【52nd JAIF Annual Conference】 Environmental Activist Michael Shellenberger, a Pro-nuclear Convert, Meets the Press
On April 9, President Michael Shellenberger of U.S. Environmental Progress, famous as an environmental activist who supports nuclear power, visited Japan to make a special presentation at the 52nd JAIF Annual Conference. At a press conference after the presentation, he explained why he had changed his view of nuclear power, something he once opposed.
Shellenberger appears in the documentary film “Pandora’s Promise,” which features environmental activists who have researched the global energy situation and become supporters of nuclear power, advocates for its important role in the prevention of global warming. At the press conference, he expressed the view below on disposal of radioactive waste and the nuclear industry’s adherence to underground burial of it.
His statement is as follows:
My thoughts on nuclear energy changed gradually as I entered my 30’s, at the beginning of the century. I wanted to tackle the global warming challenge professionally. I thought a technological solution to radioactive waste disposal would readily emerge. Renewable energies were widely considered promising, but practical progress was still lacking.
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