RESEARCHERS at the MIT d’Arbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems and Technology are working on small, egg-like robots which can monitor underground pipes for radioactive leaks.
Many older nuclear reactor sites in the US have been found to be leaking radioactive tritium from buried piping which transports water to cool reactor vessels.
Of the 104 reactors in the US, 52 are 30 years or older, and these leaks can contaminate ground water.
To deal with the challenge of identifying corrosion in underground pipes, Harry Asada, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the laboratory is working on small, egg-sized robots designed to dive into nuclear reactors and swim through underground pipes, checking for signs of corrosion.
The underwater patrollers, equipped with cameras, are able to withstand a reactor’s extreme, radioactive environment, transmitting images in real-time from within.
The robot has the form factor of a small metallic ball, with no propellers or rudders, which Asada has avoided to prevent the robot from being lodged in the reactor’s pipe structures, or interfering with sensor probes.
The robot is propelled by a system which harnesses the force of the water rushing through the pipes. The robot has a network of valves for switching the direction of a flow with a tiny change in pressure.
Depending on the direction they want their robot to swim, the researchers can close off various channels to shoot water through a specific valve. The high-pressure water pushes open a window at the end of the valve, rushing out of the robot and creating a jet stream that propels the robot in the opposite direction.
As the robot navigates a pipe system, the onboard pan and tilt camera takes images along the pipe’s interior. The robot will have wireless underwater communications, using laser optics to transmit images in real time across distances of up to 100 meters.
Asada envisions the robots as short-term, disposable patrollers, able to inspect pipes for several missions before breaking down from repeated radiation exposure.
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