Disaster Robots 2011 - Report from Japan

Urgent Needs of Disaster Response Robots in Japan 2011
As reported here before disaster respond robots have been used to get the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant under control and to support also other disaster response missions in EQ and tsumani devastated regions in Japan. According to Prof. Hajime Asama, Chairman of the Robotics Task Force for Anti-Disaster (Robotad) and member of Remote Control/Robotics Project the needs for robots is very high. At his recent ICRA 2011 Special Forum Presentation in Shanghai he listed missions for stabilization of the cooling system, containment, decommission to reduction of radiation exposure of workers. Main robotic tasks include debris cleaning, radiation survey and mapping, surveillance inside the buildings (images, radiation, temperature, humidity, oxygen concentration, etc.), shield and decontamination, etc.
Prof. Asama mentioned also the need of disaster robots for search and rescue of victims, inspection, diagnosis and recovery of plants and facilities, surveillance of coast underwater, mapping of the damaged area, power assist for heavy load tasks and also for mental care of evacuees.

Credit: Honeywell, T-Hawk Micro Air Vehicle

Robot Operations since April 6th
Robots started operations at Fukushima Daiichi NPP April 6th, when the first unmanned construction system (UCS) such as remote controlled crawler dumps arrived.
On April 10th the first remotely controlled combat-proven Micro Air Vehicle T-Hawk of Honeywell took top view images and videos of the damaged reactor buildings unit 1, 3 and 4
On April 17th the first mobile Packbots of iRobot entered the first floor of reactor building 1, 3 and 4 and transmitted the first images and videos from the reactor inside.

The current challenge for the robot teams is to understand the dynamically changing situation at Fukushima Daiichi and to propose optimal solutions utilizing robot technology according to the day-by-day mission, tasks and working environment conditions. Technical challenges are i.e. the tolerance against radioactive environment, implementation of communication systems, measurement by sensors, mapping, battery and power supply. Other issues are operation planning and training of operators.

Disaster Robot Candidates 2011

Image: Brokk 90

There are many foreign and Japanese candidates of robots for coming operations underway such as Packbot and Warrior from iRobot, micro UAV T-Hawk from Honeywell, surveillance and reconnaissance robots Talon and Dragon Runner from QinetiQ, the remote controlled eavy-duty lifter Bobcap, and the Swedish demolition robot Brokk 90.    

Image: IRS, KOHGA3

Image: IRS, Quince

Among the Japanese robot candidates are Yamaha's RMAX - the worlds most advanced non-military UAV, mini rescue robot KOHGA3 from Kyoto University and the most advanced rescue robot Quince developed by Chiba Institute of Technology, Tohoku University, and IRS.
For the moment, the taskforce is recommending the use of the compact Japanese-made Quince robot, which has two main caterpillar tracks and four smaller protruding ones which can be angled up or down to enable it to climb over debris and up stairs.

Moni-Robo developed by Japan's Nuclear Safety Technology Centre to operate at lethal radiation levels.
UMRS and the snake-like robot Soryu developed by IRS, the monster robot Enryu from tmsuk, the NBC anti-terror robot FRIGO-M from Mitsubishi, but also therapy robot Paro.

But before these robots can be mobilized many technical and operative issues have to be considered and investigated. Mobilizing a robot without any consideration could complicate the situation and may even hinder work. The first step is to extract in detail the missions and tasks for the robot system to do and to investigate the environmental conditions such as working space, debris and obstacles, temperature and humidity, lightning condition, radiation level.
The next step is to propose a solution including selection of robot technologies, reinforcement, modification and implementation. Planning includes estimation of radiation dose, access route, optimization minimum operation time. Important is also conflict resolution of radio frequency.
Before robot operations can start operators have to be trained, a operation room has to be setup, reservation of parking and decontamination space for robots is needed. Power supply and communication cables have to be in place as mapping facilities.
The final stage is the robotics operation including monitoring of radiation dose and life time estimation, decontamination, battery replacement, maintenance, management of operators´radiation exposure.

Lessons learned so far and future issues are the examination of the political strategy to sustain technology developed for nuclear disasters. An organization for quick response to emergency and disaster is needed as  international cooperation framework for mutual technology support.


Japan has learned that a nuclear disaster can happen even in Japan and that sometimes military robots are needed to cope with extreme disaster conditions. Today Japan is prohibited to make military robots and therefore dependent on foreign support.

Floating Telepresence Robot

Sony CSL has developed a floating avatar system that integrates a blimp with a virtual avatar to create a unique telepresence system. Our blimp works as an avatar and contains several pieces of equipment, including a projector and a speaker as the output functions. Users can communicate with others by transmitting their facial image through the projector and voice through the speaker. A camera and microphone attached to the blimp provide the input function and support the user's manipulation from a distance. The user's presence is dramatically enhanced compared to using conventional virtual avatars (e.g., CG and images) because the avatar is a physical object that can move freely in the real world. In addition, the user's senses are augmented because the blimp detects dynamic information in the real world. For example, the camera provides the user with a special floating view, and the microphone catches a wide variety of sounds such as conversations and environmental noises.
(Sony CSL via Forbes)

Denmark’s first Geminoid

Denmark’s first Geminoid to be presented at Aalborg University On May 16th, Associate Professor Henrik Scharfe at Aalborg University will present the first Caucasian geminoid in the world. A geminoid is a robot, designed to be an exact copy of a living human being. The geminoid is remotely controlled through a computer system that allows the robot to mimic movements of an operator. Dr. Henrik Scharfe is the first European to model for a geminoid. The robot appears as an exact copy right down to details like stubbles, eye color and shoe size. Geminoid-DK – the official name of the robot – has already attracted some attention across the world, and video clips from the designated YouTube channel has been viewed more than 4 million times in a matter of few weeks. Check out the video below. 

New Japanese Robotics Task Force for Anti-Disaster

A new Japanese robotics network, called "The Robotics Task Force for Anti-Disaster", ROBOTAD, has been established to exchange and discuss the issues of technology, application, and management to utilize robotics toward recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. The ROBOTAD is a hyper-academic organization and tightly liaises with academic societies, the Science Council of Japan, and the industry. The ROBOTAD is chaired by Professor Hajime Asama, the University of Tokyo.
Members of ROBOTAD Some members choose not to disclose their names and affiliations)
A preliminary report on the disaster and robotics in Japan will be presented on Wednesday May 11th, at the ICRA 2011 conference in Shanghai.

Undersea search robots in Japan

Credit: Seabotix SARbot

Kyodo News reports that undersea robots fail to locate any bodies during search in Pacific coastal waters off northeastern Japan in five days of operations. The undersea robots, equipped with sonar and camera devices, were used to conduct searches in waters where it is dangerous for divers in response to requests from the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture and the city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture, said Satoshi Tadokoro, who heads the International Rescue System Institute.

The robots, one made in Japan and the other in the United States, were able to find a sunken car and checked to see whether there were any bodies inside.

Underwater Robots to Help Japan Recovery

A team of experts and four state-of-the-art small underwater vehicles led by Texas A&M with funding from the National Science Foundation will be working with their Japanese counterparts to help with inspect damaged bridges, docks, and pipelines, as well as with victim recovery.  Restoration of utilities, transportation, and shipping typically depend on inspections by manual divers, who must work in murky waters and in fear of debris being washed into them by the high currents.  Advanced underwater vehicles have been used in the aftermath of Hurricanes Wilma and Ike and the Haiti Earthquake, but little is understood about how these robots can be used for disasters or how they can be designed to be more effective. In order to learn more about these technologies while helping local townships, the International Rescue Systems (IRS) institute in Japan invited the team to assist with an intense five-day effort from April 19-23 around Sendai and Minami-sanriku-cho.

The robots vary in size from the tiny football-sized AC-ROV to the suitcase-sized Seamor, making them easy to transport to the ravaged coastline around Sendai. Three of the robots carry specialized sonars that can see through muddy water and one, the Seabotix SARbot, has a gripper designed especially for rescuing victims trapped underwater.  All of the robots have a tether to allow the operators to see and control the vehicles in real time.

The five person team consists of industry experts from AEOS and Seabotix and researchers from Texas A&M and the University of South Florida’s Center for Ocean Technology. The team is being led by Prof. Robin Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at Texas A&M University, and Dr. Eric Steimle from AEOS, a  Florida start-up company specializing in marine environmental monitoring.  The team members are donating their time and equipment through the CRASAR humanitarian Roboticists Without Borders program. CRASAR is the leading organization in the world and has deployed land, sea, and aerial robots to 11 previous disasters including the 9/11 World Trade Center Collapse and Hurricane Katrina.

Robots entered Fukushima Nuclear Pant

As predicted here at Robotland on March 16 robots are now taking over the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. 

Credit: TEPCO/Cryptome

Surprisingly first one month after the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) began using unmanned heavy equipment to remove radioactive rubble at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Hydrogen explosions blew off the ceilings and walls of the Number One and Number Three reactor buildings. The debris is emitting hundreds of millisieverts of radiation per hour in some places, hindering the restoration work. TEPCO started using remote-controlled power shovels and bulldozers to remove the rubble on Sunday April 10. Operators used cameras attached to the equipment as well as 6 fixed cameras at the site to carry out the work from hundreds of meters away.

iRobot Packbot

On April 17 two robots of American company iRobot Corp. were sent into reactor buildings to check whether humans can reenter them found radiation levels as high as 49 millisieverts per hour inside the No. 1 unit, and up to 57 millisieverts in the No. 3 unit, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The cumulative maximum level for nuclear workers was raised to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts by Japan’s health ministry on March 15. Exposure totaling 100 millisieverts over a year is the lowest level at which any increase in cancer is evident, according to the World Nuclear Association in London. Check out the video below.

First Geminoid Summit 2011

Credit: Geminoid DK

In March 2011 the first ever summit of three Geminoids was organized at the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Osaka, Japan. 

It was part of a joint-venture between ATR and

Geminoid Lab Denmark, the first Geminoid Lab outside Japan, located at Aalborg University. The lab will be the home of a gemonoid, a human-like robot, modeled over the director of AAU's Center for Computer-mediated Epistemology, Associate Professor, Henrik Scharfe.The purpose of the lab is to systematically investigate certain aspects of Human Robot Interaction. Geminoid|DK is intended to advance android science and philosophy, in seeking answers to fundamental questions, many of which that have also occupied the Japanese researchers. The most important questions are: What is a human? What is presence? What is a relation? What is identity? The researchers intend to pursue these questions while looking at areas such as emotional affordances in HRI, the novel concept of Blended Presence, and by studying cultural differences in the perception of robots.

UAV takes High Resolution Images above Damaged Nuclear Power Plant

Credit: Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., Japan

Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., Japan has flown with an aerial photo drone over Fukushima power plant and shot images and video of the damaged reactors.The image shows the damaged reactor building with the red Putzmeister remote controlled concrete pump on the right side.

A2 sends: High quality, detailed video of the plant shot on 24 March 2011:

April 2, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), leaking radioactive contaminated water drain through crack of a maintenance pit, right, into the sea, near the Unit 2 reactor of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) 

US Rescue Robots for Japan Recovery

Credit: QinetiQ NA

20 days after the natural and nuclear disaster in Japan the Japanese government has now accepted disaster robots from abroad to assist Japan´s reponse teams to accomplish critical and complex recovery tasks at a safer distance from hazardous debris and other dangerous conditions.

US Robots bound for Japan
The first rescue robots have already been shipped from USA and will arrive in Japan the next days. After iRobots, sending four robots and six experts to Japan,  QinetiQ North America announced on March 28, it will provide unmanned vehicle equipment and associated training to aid in Japan’s natural disaster recovery efforts. The equipment being staged in Japan for rapid, on-call deployment includes QinetiQ North America’s Robotic Appliqué Kits, which turn Bobcat loaders into unmanned vehicles in just 15 minutes. The kits permit remote operation of all 70 Bobcat vehicle attachments, such as shovels, buckets, grapples, tree cutters and tools to break through walls and doors. The unmanned Bobcat loaders include seven cameras, night vision, thermal imagers, microphones, two-way radio systems and radiation sensors, and can be operated from more than a mile away to safely remove rubble and debris, dig up buried objects and carry smaller equipment.

Credit: QinetiQ NA, TALON

QinetiQ North America is also staging TALON and Dragon Runner robots in Japan in the event they are needed. TALON robots have previously withstood rigorous deployment and twice daily decontamination at Ground Zero. The TALON robots are equipped with CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive) detection kits that can identify more than 7,500 environmental hazards including toxic industrial chemicals, volatile gases, radiation and explosive risks, as well as temperature and air quality indicators. The TALON robots provide night vision and sound and sensing capabilities from up to 1,000 meters away.

Credit: QinetiQ NA, Dragon Runner

QinetiQ North America’s lightweight Dragon Runner robots, designed for use in small spaces, will be available for investigating rubble piles, trenches, culverts and tunnels. Thermal cameras and sound sensors on the Dragon Runners can provide data from up to 800 meters away, permitting the robot’s “eyes and ears” to serve in spaces too small or dangerous for human access. In addition to the unmanned equipment, a team of QinetiQ North America technical experts will provide training and support to Japan’s disaster response personnel.


About QinetiQ North America
QinetiQ North America delivers world-class technology, responsive services, and innovative solutions for global markets, focusing on US government and commercial customers. More than 6,000 QinetiQ North America engineers, scientists and other professionals deliver high quality products and services that leverage detailed mission knowledge and proven, reliable tools and methodologies to meet the rapidly changing demands of national defense, homeland security and information assurance customers. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, QinetiQ North America had annual revenues of more than $1 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2010. QinetiQ North America is part of QinetiQ Group PLC (LSE:QQ). For more information, please visit www.QinetiQ-NA.com.

Rescue Robots & Systems Research in Japan

The Great Hanshin earthquake (Kobe earthquake), in 1995- a massive scale earthquake of magnitude 9.0, which had approximately 6,434 fatalities, and caused approximately ten trillion yen ($100 billion) in damage, 2.5% of Japan's GDP, made serious weaknesses in the Japanese earthquake disaster preventions system visible. At that time the Kobe earthquake was Japan's worst earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake (M 7.9) in 1923, which claimed 140,000 lives. 

After the 1995 earthquake disaster the government sponsored the Special Measure Law on Earthquake Disaster Prevention to promote a comprehensive national policy on earthquake disaster prevention and to improve communication and application of earthquake research results to the general public and disaster prevention organizations. The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, a special governmental organization attached to the Prime Minister's office (now belongs to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), was established in accordance with this law.

Earthquake Research 2006-2011

The Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas (2002-2006) conducted by the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo. The project revealed the detailed geometry of the subducted Philippine Sea plate (PSP) beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan area and improved information needed for seismic hazards analyses of the largest urban centers. In 2007 the Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Tokyo Metropolitan Area started focusing at  the vertical proximity of the PSP down going lithospheric plate and the risks for the greater Tokyo urban region that has a population of 42 million and is the center of approximately 40 % of the nation's activities. A M 7 or greater (M 7+) earthquake in this region at present has high potential to produce devastating loss of life and property with even greater global economic repercussions. The Central Disaster Management Council of Japan estimated that a great earthquake in the region might cause 11,000 fatalities and 112 trillion yen (1 trillion US$) economic loss. The Earthquake Research Committee of Japan estimated a probability of 70 % in 30 years for a great earthquake in this region. 

Rescue Robots & Systems Research Projects

In  2002 the DDT Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas was launched as one of the urban renewal projects by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The project  was carried out in Japan´s fiscal years 2002-2006 by nationwide researchers and organized by International Research System Institute. The objective of the project was to develop practical technologies related to robotics as a counter measurement against earthquake disasters, and include robots, intelligent sensors, information equipment, and human interfaces that support emergency responses such as urban search and rescue, particularly victim search, information gathering and communication. Typical technologies are teleoperated robots for victim search in hazardous disaster areas, and robotic systems with distributed sensors for gathering disaster information to support human decision making. The research budget was approx. 400 million JPY a year ($ 5million) and 33 research groups with more than 100 researchers have been involved in developing  Aerial Robot Systems, Information Infrastructure Systems, Rubble Robot System and On-Rubble Robot System. The project is well documented in Rescue Robotics - DDT Project on Robots and Systems for Urban Search and Rescue, by Prof. Satoshi Tadokoro, Tōhoku Univ. (Ed.) presenting the most significant robotic systems and technologies such as serpentine robots, tracked vehicles, intelligent human interface and data processing, as well as analysing and verifying the results of experiments. 

 The largest rescue robot "T-52 ENRYU"

Credit: tsmuk, Enryu 53

In 2004 robot company tmsuk, located  in Munakata-City, Fukuoka launched the "T-52 Enryu"  developed as a large-scale rescue robot for use at disaster sites. "T-52 Enryu" was one of the world's largest rescue robots, measures approximately 3.45 m in height and 2.4 m in width and weighs 5 ton. Each arm, having eight joints, can lift 500 kg (1 ton with both arms). It is operated in two modes: one by an operator riding in the robot and the other by remote operation by master-slave control and joystick control for perilous situations in which rescuers cannot gain access to victims because of the risk of secondary disaster. 

T-53 Enryu
In 2007 the rescue robot T-53 Enryu was released for rescue work at disastrous places where rescue workers cannot go into. T-53 Enryu was the 3rd generation tmsuk rescue robot. tmsuk had worked closely with national fire department to develop T-53 Enryu, which thus has been embedded with much desired functions. T-53 Enryu is made more compact than the previous rescue machines. It has maximized maneuverability for emergency operations. Furthermore, the synchronous robot arm systems have sophisticated motion control capabilities of operators. In 2008 the T-53 Enryu has participated in recovery efforts during the earthquake in Kashiwazaki City, Niigata. Check out the demonstration video below. 

Decommissioning Scenario for Fukushima Dai-ichi

Credit: TEPCO - Fukushima Dai-ichi

Two weeks after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the nuclear power plant Fukushima Dai-ichi the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric have mentioned the likely decommission of the nuclear plant when the current crisis has been overcome.

Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants
The process of decommissioning of a nuclear facilities is regulated and includes many administrative and technical actions such as all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive demolition of the plant. Once a facility is decommissioned, there should no longer be any danger of a radioactive accident or to any persons visiting it. After a facility has been completely decommissioned it is released from regulatory control, and the licensee of the plant no longer has responsibility for its nuclear safety. 
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has defined three options for decommissioning, the definitions of which have been internationally adopted: Immediate Dismantling (Early Site Release/DECON in the US), Safe Enclosure (SAFSTOR) or Entombment (ENTOMB).

According to the World Nuclear Association to date, about 80 commercial power reactors, 45 experimental or prototype reactors, over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities, have been retired from operation. Some of these have been fully dismantled. Most parts of a nuclear power plant do not become radioactive, or are contaminated at only very low levels. Most of the metal can be recycled. Proven techniques and equipment are available to dismantle nuclear facilities safely and these have now been well demonstrated in several parts of the world. Decommissioning costs for nuclear power plants, including disposal of associated wastes, are reducing and contribute only a small fraction of the total cost of electricity generation. Some examples of decommissioning are folowing below. 

Safe Enclosure Japan: The Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant (1966-2018) 

One of the first decommissioning projects in Japan was the Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant, the first nuclear power plant in Japan, built in the early 1960s to a 160 MWe British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. The plant has passed decommissioning phase SAFSTOR (1998-1999) and DECON will end in 2018. The decommissioning cost was estimated to yen 93 Billion (Euro 660 Million) by the OECD in 2003. JPY 35 billion for dismantling and JPY 58 billion for waste treatment which will include the graphite moderator (which escalates the cost significantly).

Safe Enclosure USA: Three Mile Island (1979-2036)

Credit: CMU 

After the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident on March 28, 1979, which resulted in severe damage to the reactor core, TMI-2 has been in a non-operating status since that time. The licensee conducted a substantial program to defuel the reactor vessel and decontaminate the facility. All spent fuel has been removed except for some debris in the reactor coolant system.
The first robotics vehicle to enter the basement of Three Mile Island after the meltdown, was Remote Reconnaissance Robot 1983 developed by CMU roboticist William L. ''Red'' Whittaker. The robot worked four years to survey and clean up the flooded basement. The CoreSampler, 1984, was a remote vehicle drilling core samples from the walls of the TMI basement to determine the depth and severity of radioactive material that soaked into the concrete at the site.

The plant defueling was completed in April 1990. The removed fuel is currently in storage at Idaho National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy has taken title and possession of the fuel. TMI-2 has been defueled and decontaminated to the extent the plant is in a safe, inherently stable condition suitable for long-term management. This long-term management condition is termed post-defueling monitored storage, which was approved in 1993. There is no significant dismantlement underway. The plant shares equipment with the operating TMI - Unit 1. TMI-1 was sold to AmerGen (now Exelon) in 1999. GPU Nuclear retains the license for TMI-2 and is owned by FirstEnergy Corp. GPU contracts with Exelon for maintenance and surveillance activities. The licensee plans to actively decommission TMI-2 in parallel with the decommissioning of TMI-1. The current radiological decommissioning cost estimate is $836.9 million. The current amount in the decommissioning trust fund is $576.8 million, as of December 31, 2009. Estimated Date For Closure: 12/31/2036.
Entombment USSR/Ukraine: Chernobyl Case (1986 - 2065)

Credit: Wikipedia - Chernobyl

The worst nuclear power plant accident in history, the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale, is the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). After a 1991 fire in Reactor 2, this reactor was taken offline, and decommissioned in 1996.

First in 1999, after the End of the Cold War, reconnaissance robot Pioneer entered the radiated plant for structural analysis of the Unit 4 reactor building. Even this robot was developed by CMU roboticist William L. ''Red'' Whittaker and his company RedZone Robotics. The robot was a teleoperated mobile robot for deploying sensor and sampling payloads, with a mapper for creating photorealistic 3D models of the building interior, a coreborer for cutting and retrieving samples of structural materials, and a suite of radiation and other environmental sensors.

Credit: CMU/RedZone Pioneer

Reactor 3 was switched off in 2000 to close the plant. In early 2002 the European Commission paid the first installment of its promised €40m additional Shelter Fund. The fund was paid in four installments from 2001–2004. It helped to support the decommissioning work at the site.

In 1997 the Chernobyl Shelter Fund was established at the Denver 23rd G8 summit to finance the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP). The plan calls for transforming the site into an ecologically safe condition by means of stabilization of the sarcophagus followed by construction of a New Safe Confinement (NSC). While the original cost estimate for the SIP was US$768 million, the 2006 estimate was $1.2 billion. The SIP is being managed by a consortium of Bechtel, Battelle, and Electricité de France, and conceptual design for the NSC consists of a movable arch, constructed away from the shelter to avoid high radiation, to be slid over the sarcophagus.
New Safe Confinement 2013

On 7 January 2010, the Ukrainian Government passed a state law to transform the Chernobyl shelter facility into an environmentally safe system in order to protect the surroundings from radiation. The programme will be executed in four stages. In the first stage, nuclear fuel will be moved to a storage facility, which will be completed by 2013. In the second stage which will be completed by 2025, all the reactors will be deactivated. The third stage involves maintaining the reactors until radiation drops to an acceptable level and is envisaged to be completed by 2045. The fourth and the final stage involves dismantling the reactors and clearing the site, which is expected to be completed by 2065.

Novarka is a French consortium for the construction of the new safe confinement over the Chernobyl shelter. Members of the consortium are Vinci, Bouygues (France), Nukem (Germany/UK), Hochtief (Germany) and some Ukrainian companies. In 2007 the Ukrainian authorities announced Novarka as winner of the $ 453 Million contract. Check the video animation below.



Demolition Robots at Dounreay plant, UK 

Credit: NDA - Brokk 40

In the UK robots have been used to take over from human staff to dismantle the uranium fuel reprocessing plant at Dounreay. The plant is too contaminated with radiation for human workers to carry out the work, so the site has turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond. Staff are drilling through the concrete that surrounds the plant to let the electric powered demolition robots move inside and begin dismantling it. The robots which are mounted on tracks like a construction excavator have been fitted with specially-designed tools.

Fukushima Dai-ichi 2011-20??

Depending on further crisis development and the final status of nuclear reactors at the power plant the decommissioning process and the recovering of the surroundings will take many years and cost billions of yen. Fukushimas will forever be remembered with the nuclear disaster caused by the earthquake and devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011. 

New Water Cannon Robots Arrive at Fukushima Dai 1

The Cooling Fight at Fukushima Dai 1 continues. Personnel from Japan's Self-Defense Forces, the Tokyo Fire Department, and other agencies are spraying water on the plant's No.3 and 4 reactors, which lost the ability to cool storage pools containing spent nuclear fuel rods.

Water Cannon Robot from Australia
NHK reports that a remote-controlled high-powered water cannon truck has arrived from Australia at  Yokota Air Base on Tuesday following a request by the United States. The water cannon robot can shoot 150 liters of water per second at a target 150 meters away. It can also operate unmanned for 2 to 3 days while pumping seawater. The robot, owned by US contractor Bechtel Corporation, the largest engineering company in the United States, was being flown from Perth by an RAAF Hercules transport. The robot sprayer will probably be put to work in the reactor building in the most dangerous condition, No 4. The robot will enable them to remotely see the damaged pool for the first time and put water into it with precision.

62 Meter Concrete Pump from China

Credit: Sany Group

Chinese Sany Group, the world’s largest concrete machinery manufacturer and among the top 50 global construction machinery manufacturers, has announced the shipment of its 62 meter concrete pump to Fukushima free of charge to help Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEP) fight against the current crises. The equipment has left Sany head quarter in Changsha and is now heading towards Shanghai. It is estimated that the concrete pump will arrive in Japan on next Wednesday. According to Guinness World Records Sany boasts the longest boom for a truck-mounted concrete pump: 71.535 meters.

According to IEEE Spectrum the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a congressional committee on Thursday, that building No. 4's storage pool had lost all its water, leaving its spent fuel exposed to the air. On Friday the Los Angeles Times reported that the No. 4 pool had either been cracked or breached during the earthquake, causing water to drain away. However, TEPCO officials have contradicted these statements.

Concrete Pumping Robot at Fukushima

More than 100 Japanese firefighters and a dozen firefighting trucks including the “Super Pumper,” are working to cool down the damaged Fukushima Dai-1 nuclear reactors. But the situation at the nuclear power plant remains very serious and new strategies are considered to stop nuclear fire and radiation. According to a CNN report first tests are now planned to pump concrete into the plant's No. 4 reactor spent nuclear fuel pool and containment vessel. This means high performance concrete pumps, a sophisticated delivery line system, non-ballasted stationary booms and demanding concrete mixtures. Putzmeister, the German manufacturer of concrete pumps, and the largest in its field, is now at Fukushima to help. The company has experience from the Chernobyl disaster and is the world record holder pumping concrete to a height of more than 700 m at Burj Khalifa Tower, currently the tallest man-made structure ever built.

Concrete Spraying Robots at Chernobyl

Credit: Putzmeister - Chernobyl 1986

In 1986 more than 10 pumps of four different manufacturer were used to encapsulate the damage reactor at Chernobyl as fast as possible. In total, approx. 76.450 cubic meter  (100.000 cubic yards) were pumped to protect the damaged reactor block 4. The longest booms and fastest pumps were from Putzmeister, reacting faster with special equipment like lead shields, radio and video remote controll etc. At Chernobyl only two hours' exposure was allowed per worker.  Each worker had a radiation counter in his pocket and could leave whenever he felt endangered. A rest-camp over 120 km away was set up for the operators to ensure day and night operation. About 100 trained operators were working at the site day and night. 

Credit: Putzmeister M52

The Putzmeister M52 had a 150 cubic meter per hour capacity, 360 HP engine and lead lined cab. The compact five section Multi-Z-boom was fully autiomatic, centraly lubricated, all radio and video controlled, including S-type harsh mix hopper to match most difficult concrete mixes. 

Disaster Robot Monitors at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant

Credit: Mitsui

The first Japanese Disaster Monitoring Robot, Monirobo ("Monitoring Robot"), arrived at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on Wedsnday March 17 according to Asahi Shimbun report.
The Monirobo was developed by Mitsui and Nuclear Safety Technology Centre in association with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, METI, after the Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999 in which two workers died.
Monirobo is designed to operate at radiation levels too high for humans. The 1.5-metre and 600 kg heavy robot runs on a pair of caterpillar tracks with a speed of 2.4 km/hr. It has a manipulator arm for removing obstacles and collecting samples. Sensors include a radiation detector, 3D camera system and temperature and humidity sensors. It can be operated remotely from a distance of about one km. The robot carries heavy shielding to protect electronics, especially cameras, of the effects of radiation.
Environmental radioactivity level by prefecture are available via Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, MEXT.

Nuclear Disaster Robot Disaster 2011

One week after the 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that struck off the coast of Honshu Island and severely damaged the cooling systems of three reactor units at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, 250 km north of Tokyo, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces and the Tokyo Fire Department are still fighting heroically to cool down the damaged reactor units. The disaster has recently been upgraded to an INES 5 serious accident due to significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures. People who live 20 km from the nuclear power station have been evacuated and people who live betwen 20-30 km from Fukushima Dai-ichi site are to stay indoors. The Japanese National Police Agency has officially confirmed 7,508 deaths, 2,583 injured, and 11,680 people missing across seventeen prefectures, as well as over 100,000 buildings damaged or destroyed.

First Sign of Unmanned Operation Needs
While Japan is renowned for its cutting edge robotics technology at Robotland we are surprised and concerned to watch on television human firefighters outside the damaged reactors. Why aren't they using remote controlled robots and unmanned trucks? When asked a science ministry official said a robot used to detect radiation levels is at the Fukushima site, but according to Reuters nuclear safety agency JNES official Hidehiko Nishiyama said: "We have no reports of any robots being used."

Six hours after the earthquake Robotland published a Rescue Robot Alert and started searching for experts and suppliers of search, rescue and firefighting robots. According to IFR Service Robot report 2010 many prototypes of  robots have been designed to locate and fight bombs and fires. However, very few designs have been commercialized for firefighting. IFR lists four suppliers: Rechners GmbH, Austria, InRobTech, Israel, Komatsu, Japan, Hoya Robot, S.Korea.

Robotland found privately owned Croatian company DOK-ING Ltd, developing a remote controlled fire fighting system developed to fight fires in hazardous and inaccessible areas.

On Wednesday March 16,  a Japanese government source confirms that the U.S. military will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Fukushima plant to take a closer look at its troubled reactors.

On Thursday March 17, German media report about IAEA request to member countries asking for "robots and unmanned vehicles capable of operating in highly radioactive“ as that of Fukushima.

A critical report from Reuters - "Japan a robot power everywhere except at nuclear plant"- is replied by Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at Robot Texas A&M Univ., CRASAR, a crisis response and research organization which strives to direct and exploit new technology development in robotics and unmanned systems for humanitarian purposes worldwide, claiming that "pretty much no country has robots (or at least barely plural) for nuclear disasters - denial and spending the necessary R&D money for this very, very hard type of robot is not unique to the Japanese, the US is in similar shape."

Scary Insights from Rescue Robot Experts
CRASAR confess that their small rescue robots to search for survivors aren´t feasible in radiated environments because sensors would probably be the first to go– video and cameras are fairly sensitive to radiation from their CCD chips. It’s impossible to work remotely if video is down.

Credit: Northrop Grumman

According to CRASAR the new Remotec robots from Northrop Grumman are less protected and the IED robots have evolved to be even lighter- so less reliable in a nuclear disaster. Nuclear disaster robots need to be "big, beefy, slow, and stupid (as in few processors)"– and even then it’s just a matter of time before enough radiation fries something important. Other constraints are related to limited battery times, changing operations and communication in various containment structures.

CRASAR refers to Red Whittaker, Director at the Field Robotics Institute at CMU, and expert in using robots for nuclear disasters. He led teams to develop robots for operations at Three Mile Island and at Chernobyl. When asked by Robotland March 17 about the possibility to use robots at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, Whittaker says that remote capabilities are available or adaptable for many tasks that may be relevant at the Dai-ichi plant. One difference in robotic operations between contribution and distraction is to begin with understanding of the need.  "Fires" in nuclear incidents are not approachable and extinguishable in the customary manner. According to Whittaker the challenges may be access, water-supply, or reaching over a spent-fuel pool.  The real challenge might be to flood fuel rods at high elevation....or deliver sustained volume of water.... top-down... and at high reach. If so, then pumped water, delivered by remoted cranes and concrete-delivery systems may be more suitable.

Japanese Nuclear Emergency Robot Blindspot
Asked by Robotland March 17 about why no robots being used for reactor cooling Prof. Satoshi Tadokoro, director the International Rescue Systems Institute, reponds that several types of firefighting robots have been developed by Tokyo FD, Osaka FD, Kanagawa FD, etc. in Japan, but most of them are small type UGV.
A large unmanned spraying robot of Tokyo FD has been used for large-scale fires, such as at Bridgestone fire incident. Prof. Tadokoro says, he doesn't know why no robots are used at Fukushima case, but one reason might be that the reachable distance/height of spraying would not be enough for this plant, in addition to the radiation issue. A robot developed after the JCO incident by METI has been used in exercises at Rokkasho nuclear plant. It is being actually used for monitoring the radiation. Many robots were developed after this incident, but they did not continued. Power plant companies mentioned that they did not need such robots because their nuclear plants never have accidents and are safe.

March 18, the Japanese government is conceding it was unprepared for a disaster of that scale and was slow to respond. The prime minister is vowing to "rebuild Japan from scratch." He says the disasters have brought a "great test for the Japanese people."

First Disaster Monitoring Robot Arrives

Credit: Mitsui

Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports that the first Japanese disaster monitoring robot, Monirobo ("Monitoring Robot"), has arrived at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Monirobo was developed by  Japan's Nuclear Safety Technology Centre in association with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, METI, after the Tokaimura nuclear accident in 1999 in which two workers died. Monirobo is designed to operate at radiation levels too high for humans. The 1.5-metre and 600 kg heavy robot runs on a pair of caterpillar tracks with a speed of 2.4 km/hr. It has a manipulator arm for removing obstacles and collecting samples. Sensors include a radiation detector, 3D camera system and temperature and humidity sensors. It can be operated remotely from a distance of about one km. The robot carries heavy shielding to protect electronics, especially cameras, of the effects of radiation.

US Ground Robots for Hazmat Mission in Japan
US company iRobot asked for help by the Japanese government, is donating two of its 510 PackBots and two 710 Warrior Robots to Japan, along with two week support by six employees, who will train Japanese military operators. Nothing is said about radiation risks for the robots.

CRASAR says iRobot robots are "great for low-level radiation situations (or for high radiation die-in-place conditions) and much more agile that the traditional tank style monirobo".

Nuclear Emergency Robots in Europe

Credit: KHG Nuclear Emergency Robots

As of January, 2011 there is a total of 195 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of 170 GWe in operation in Europe and 19 units with 16,9 GWe were under construction in six countries.

Robotland has reported that Germany and France have established national nuclear emergency teams with special nuclear emergency robots developed. The response status of these organizations and the status in other European countries is not known but needs to be reviewed after the tragic Japanese Nuclear Disaster Robot Disaster 2011.

Citizen Summary: 

• Many stakeholders have failed to identify the risk not to have access to nuclear emergency robots feasible to operate in radiated environments. 
• IAEA and national authorities have fail to demand nuclear emergency robots in preparedness and response for a nuclear or radiological emergency.
• The Japanese Nuclear Power Industry has failed to foresee a need.
• Few rescue organizations operate robots that are feasible in radiated environments. 
• The nightmare isn't over. 
• It's time to rethink and demand viable systems!

US Ground Robots for Hazmat Mission in Japan

Credit: iRobot, 510 PackBot for HazMat  

One week after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan causing the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima site the Japanese government has asked for robotic help from other countries. One of the first robots that will arrive are from USA donated by iRobot.
NECN Eileen Curran reports that on Thursday morning, the Japanese military contacted US company iRobot asking for help. iRobot is donating two of its 510 PackBots and two 710 Warrior Robots to Japan, along with two week support of six employees. The packbots will be equipped with a hazmat sensor and the warriors will be fitted with a special gripper that can hold a fire hose. iRobot employees won´t be going into the nuclear power plant but actually teach the Japanese military how to use the robots. Nothing was said about the radiation risk for the robots.
According to a leading rescue robot expert microprocessors and especially CCD cameras are highly sensitive to radiation- and thus will unpredictably fail.

The iRobot 510 PackBot for HazMat Technicians detects and identifies dangerous chemical, radiological and organic compounds, providing warfighters, first responders and SWAT teams with critical information on a range of missions

The iRobot 710 Warrior is a powerful and rugged robot that carries heavy payloads, travels over rough terrain and climbs stairs while performing a variety of critical missions such as Bomb Disposal / EOD (IEDs / VBIEDs / UXOs), Route Clearance and Surveillance / Reconnaissance.

Firefighting Robots in Japan

Robotland asked some of the world leading rescue robotics researchers, why there are no firefighting robots operating at the Fukushima site. One reason mentioned was that the reachable distance/height of spraying would not be enough for this plant, in addition to the radiation issue. Most firefighting robots are small type UGV or only prototypes. But it was also mentioned that Japanese power plant companies haven´t seen a need of such robots because they considered their nuclear plants as safe and free from accidents.

Firefighting Robot Development in Japan
The development of practical high-performance robots that are affordable to fire headquarters have been implemented with the objective of developing robots for NBC terrorism by 2006. NBC disasters are special disasters including Nuclear disasters caused by nuclear radiation and radioactive substances, Biological disasters caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses, rickettsia and microbes, and Chemical disasters caused by toxic chemicals.  

In 2006 a Firefighting Technology Policy Office was established in the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC). The FDMA and its National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, NRIFD, conduct research to address the common challenges for all prefectures of Japan, including development of equipment for emergency firefighting assistance teams and development of an information system for coping with large scale natural disasters including earthquakes.

Credit: Mitsubishi/NRIFD (FRIGO-M)

NRIFD  in Tokyo is the only institute in Japan engaged in comprehensive research on firefighting and disaster prevention. NRIFD conducts developmental research on robots that assist with firefighting activities, such as information collection and rescue efforts, in areas where firefighting personnel find it difficult to enter, including fires at nuclear power plants and areas affected by the release of toxic gases due to terrorism. Extreme environmentally-resistant modifications, including waterproofing, dustproofing and shock resistant capabilities that allow the robot to be used directly at the scene of fires, have been made, and robots are being introduced in experimental programs for practical deployment in the future.

The robot “FRIGO-M” is capable of autonomously recognizing and following a firefighter wearing firefighting clothing etc., automatically recognizing and memorizing the path of movement taken, and autonomously transporting disaster victims found by the firefighter to safety by retracing the path. The FRIGO-M robot has a main body that is highly waterproof, dustproof, explosion-proof, and shock-resistant.


Local Fire Fighting Research & Development 

Credit: Muza-Chan - Robocue Tokyo FD

Several types of firefighting robots have also been developed by local government firefighting departments in Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa etc. Most of them are small type UGV. A large unmanned spraying robot of Tokyo Firefighting department has been used for large-scale fires, such as at Bridgestone fire incident.

The Tokyo Fire department has 12 different types of fire fighting and rescue robots. These robots are designed to handle disasters that are too dangerous for personnel during an emergency. Some types of robots can shoot water or foam on to fires. One type can rescue a person and another type are able to move large objects. Currently all robots are controlled by remote operators. Robocue is a remote-controlled rescue robot, used by Tokyo Fire Department since 2009. Robocue was built to save lives in case of disasters, being capable to pull a person inside its body (using a sort of pincers and a conveyor belt) and to carry it to safety.

Global Hawk over Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

Credit: Northrop Grumman

According to a Japanese government source the U.S. military will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Fukushima nuclear power plant, possibly on Thursday, to take a closer look at its troubled reactors. Photographs taken by the plane equipped with infrared sensors could provide a useful clue to what is occurring inside the reactor buildings, around which high-level radiation has been detected.

Credit: Digitalglobe: Fukushima Dai-ichi March 16,2011

The Global Hawk is able to provide high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)—that can penetrate cloud-cover and sandstorms— and Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) imagery at long range with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) of terrain a day. Missions for the Global Hawk cover the spectrum of intelligence collection capability to support forces in worldwide peace, crisis, and wartime operations.

Robots will take over Fukushima Daiichi Plant

Image: Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiich

Japan’s nuclear crisis intensified dramatically on Wednesday after the authorities announced that a second reactor unit at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan may have ruptured and appeared to be releasing radioactive steam. Tokyo Electric Power, the company operating the reactors had withdrawn most of its workers from the plant on Tuesday, leaving only a skeleton crew of 50 struggling to lower temperatures.

The company says it cannot know for sure what is happening in many cases because it is too dangerous for workers to get close to some reactors. 
So far the highest radiation level measured at Fukushima Daiichi plant was 1,000 mSv/h on March 16, 2011 after smoke rose above the plant and staff were briefly evacuated. When radiation was coming down to 800–600 mSv/h, staff returned. The typical dose near Chernobyl reactor 4 and its fragments, shortly after explosion was ≈ 10 000–300 000 mSv/hr.

Robots will take over at Fukushima Daiichi Plant

Credit: RAD Rover/CMU

The attraction of robots is their potential to work in hazardous environments, thereby reducing the human risks associated with the work. Various robotic systems have helped reduce radiation exposures of inspecting personnel.
Three Mile Island Robots
After the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear plant disaster in 1979, that destroyed much of the reactor core and left large areas of the reactor containment building inaccessible to humans, several robot prototypes made their debut in the recovery and clean up. William "Red" Whittaker, a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, assembled a team of students in the 1980s to build three robots designed to help inspection and clean up the basement of a damaged reactor at TMI-2. The RAD Rover (1983) was the first vehicle to enter the basement of TMI after the meltdown in March 1979. This vehicle worked four years to survey and clean up the flooded basement. The CoreSampler (1984) drilled core samples from the walls of the Three Mile Island basement to determine the depth and severity of radioactive material that soaked into the concrete at the site.
Nuclear Power Plant Robots in Japan
In Japan general-purpose robots for inspection and maintenance at nuclear power plants have been developed since early 80-ies by Japanese companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi. (2)

Chernobyl Disaster Robots 
The Chernobyl disaster in 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine), was so far the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and it is the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

Chernobyl Sarcophagus Robots

At the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant robots have been used to study radiation doses on the outer Shelter structure and to examine the remnants of molten radioactive materials. Radiation levels in the area of work is 350 Roentgens per hour, a deadly amount for humans. The robots are developed by the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP, NAS of Ukraine. 

Credit: CMU Pioneer Robot

In 1999 the U.S. government, two universities, and several companies delivered a robot called Pioneer, equipped with three-dimensional vision, radiation detectors, gripping arm, and a bore for taking samples. Pioneer was used to map out the dangerous parts of the defunct, radioactive reactor facility within the aging sarcophagus. The robot was developed by a team again led by prof. William L. "Red" Whittaker, Carnegie Mellon.

Nuclear Decommissioning Robots
According to the World Nuclear Association, WNA, in October 2010 about 100 mines, 80 commercial power reactors, 45 experimental or prototype reactors, over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities, have been retired from operation. Some of these have been fully dismantled. In the UK alone it is estimated that the total cost of dealing with the nuclear legacy is nearly $100Bn. The UK government and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have developed robots that took over in 2008 from human staff to dismantle the uranium fuel reprocessing plant at Dounreay. The plant was too contaminated with radiation for human workers to carry out the work, so the site turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond. (1)

Applied Robotics for the Power Industry

October 5-7, 2010, the 1st International Conference on Applied Robotics for the Power Industry (CARPI), took place in Montreal, Canada. About 180 experts from robotics solution developers and power industry end-users came together to exchange ideas about about robotics solutions for construction, refurbishment, inspection and maintenance of power systems. The urgent need of nuclear disasters robots was not anticipated but key note speaker, prof. Shigeo Hirose, Tokyo Institute of Technology, talked about snake-like rescue robot "Souryu", arm mounted buggy robot "Gryphon V" for humanitarian demining, quadruped walking robot "TITAN XI" for steep slope construction tasks, and multi-wheeled "Expliner" for the inspection of high-voltage transmission lines. 

Early Warning Signals

According to WikiLeaks files published by The Telegraph, UK, IAEA had warned the Japanese government at a G8 meeting in December 2008 about serious earth quake risks for the Japanese nuclear power plants. 

The Future of the Nuclear Industry - Humans or Robots?

In February 2011 the president of the European Nuclear Society, Prof. Vladimir Slugen, declaired "the greatest risk to the future of the nuclear industry today is a systemic failure to pass on to subsequent generations the vital knowledge that has been acquired over the decades". He says that investment in automatic monitoring and safety control systems has been increasing continuously since the Chernobyl catastrophe. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for investment in education and training. This failure prevented an optimal transfer of the knowledge that is the life-blood of the nuclear industry. 

Ten Years after Chernobyl
The IAEA booklet Ten Years after Chernobyl: What do we really know? attempts briefly to bring to light what has been learned after ten years of examining the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, reviewing both its immediate and long-term human health and environmental impacts. It is based principally upon the results of an international conference, "One Decade After Chernobyl: Summing Up the Consequences of the Accident," which brought together more than 800 experts from 71 countries in Vienna in April 1996 under sponsorship of the European Commission (EC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the IAEA.
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(1) http://www.iaarc.org/publications/fulltext/isarc2005-02seward.pdf
(2) http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull273/27305093942.pdf