SGI-powered robot sent to Chernobyl to help prevent future nuclear accidents

Citation

(1999), "SGI-powered robot sent to Chernobyl to help prevent future nuclear accidents", Industrial Robot, Vol. 26 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1999.04926fab.011

SGI-powered robot sent to Chernobyl to help prevent future nuclear accidents

SGI-powered robot sent to Chernobyl to help prevent future nuclear accidents

Keywords: Robots, Nuclear

Robot to begin mapping dangerous site in 3D for stabilisation clean-up

A robot powered by SGI will help reduce the chance of another nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. SGI systems will power the robot's vision and 3D mapping systems which are key to analysing and ultimately repairing the decaying cement and steel sarcophagus covering the failed reactor.

The sarcophagus is a"greenhouse" of radioactive fuel, rubble and dust, according to leaders of the"Pioneer" robot team. Rain is seeping into the reactor and draining through radioactive material into ground water. If the sarcophagus is not repaired as planned, these officials say it would probably collapse, spreading hazardous radioactive dust into the atmosphere-potentially causing another severe accident at Chernobyl.

"To stabilise the sarcophagus, we need high-fidelity imagery of the situation inside," said Jim Osborn, Pioneer team leader, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)."This critical application demands the highest performance computing and visualisation capabilities available and SGI is uniquely positioned to help us here."

According to Osborn, a photorealistic, 3D virtual reality map of the reactor building and sarcophagus covering it, created using the SGI equipment, will show cracks, faults and other signs of deterioration in the structure, as well as map the invisible hot zones - the fields of radiation that exist inside.

Chernobyl staff and site contractors will use the virtual reality model of the reactor to inspect the structural damage done by the explosion and develop remediation and stabilisation plans that minimise human exposure to radiation.

"Virtual reality is no longer a toy," said Tim Denmeade, Nuclear Business Manager, Redzone Robotics."There has been an immense gap between the dream and the delivery in robotics, but with all the experience found in the Pioneer team and the computing and visualisation capabilities of the SGI machines, this is a dream that's time has come. The robot's vision and mapping software combined with leading-edge SGI hardware represent a world's first in robotics."

It is expected that a Ukrainian operator in a protected room near the reactor core will use a Silicon Graphics Octane workstation to direct the robot during its mission. This offers Pioneer team members the potential to send video images and other data from the contaminated interior to another Octane workstation housed in the Chernobyl administrative building so that scientists and other decision makers can direct the current mission and plan future missions. A third Octane workstation is located in the USA at CMU along with a Silicon Graphics Onyx2 workstation, the company's most powerful graphics system.

"The situation at Chernobyl is critical and SGI is proud to be able to help the Pioneer team stabilise and clean up this disaster sight," said Jim Irving, Director, UK workstations and distribution, SGI.

The US team hopes to link these systems to the SGI system within Chernobyl's administrative building via satellite. Onyx2, used in this way, would allow programme managers tasked with stabilising and cleaning up Unit 4 to"fly" through the photorealistic virtual world of Chernobyl to assess the structural integrity of the entire reactor area by combining all 3D imagery such as that of individual rooms and hallways. These programme managers may display this full-scale virtual Chernobyl on the Web so that individuals can study a realistic representation of the world's worst nuclear accident - in an interactive environment.

For further details contact SGI, 1530 Arlington Business Park, Theale, Reading RG7 4SB. Tel: +44 (0)118 925 7500; Fax: +44 (0)118 925 7505. http://www.sgi.co.uk