Advanced Computers to Assess Chernobyl Damage

"I'm going in!" Pioneer, a high-tech robot, will probe the radioactive confines of Chernobyl. Image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon

Following the explosion at Chernobyl Unit Four on April 26, 1986, a 198-foot concrete and steel sarcophagus was built around the damaged nuclear reactor. Now, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) experts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the tomb is beginning to deteriorate. Radiation has weakened the structure and rainwater has been leaking in, with the ominous implication that radioactive waste may be leaking out. If the structure collapses or its walls fracture, radioactive dust could travel hundreds of miles over the Eurasian continent. To avert this grave threat, the DOE and NASA -- along with academic and private-sector scientists, and in cooperation with Ukrainian officials -- are building a high-tech robotics and vision system to help analyze and repair the decaying enclosure. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is overseeing the $2.7 million project, with financing from NASA and the DOE.

Because radiation levels inside Chernobyl's reactor rooms would pose a severe hazard to human workers, a robot will be dispatched to build virtual-reality maps of the rooms. Pioneer, a radiation-tolerant vehicle built by Red Zone Robotics, will enter the contaminated areas to capture images, structural samples, and other measurements. The robot, which runs on tank tracks, is equipped with a cameras, sensors, a bulldozer plow, and a drill that can penetrate concrete. Operators will control Pioneer from inside a lead-lined room near the reactor core. Silicon Graphics has donated three $50,000 OCTANE workstations and is lending one $250,000 Onyx2 server to the project. One OCTANE will be connected to the robot by a cable, to generate the virtual-reality maps. It will help the operator know the robot's exact position; convert images from the camera head into a computerized surface mesh; color the mesh with camera images; display the final mesh within context of the entire building; and analyze core samples for structural stability. Following the mission, this workstation will be disposed of due to radiation exposure. A second OCTANE will be housed in Chernobyl's administrative building; a third, at the University of Iowa, will be linked to the other two via NASA satellite. The virtual-reality software created by NASA's Pioneer team will be a more advanced version of that developed by Ames Research Center for the Mars Pathfinder mission. Pioneer's operators will "see" what the robot sees on their workstation's video window. Using the Onyx2 visualization supercomputer at the University of Iowa, Pioneer team members will be able to "fly" through the virtual-reality Chernobyl generated by the OCTANE workstations to assess the reactor's structural integrity. Technology developed by NASA Ames and Carnegie Mellon University will create a 3D template over which video images can be superimposed, using software from the University of Iowa. Pioneer is scheduled to begin its mapping mission in November; results should be available to the public in December. Technology from the Pioneer project may be adapted by NASA for use in future space missions. See the June 1998 issue of NASA Tech Briefs for more information on the Pioneer project. Back to News Center