Robots in Chernobyl

After the accident at the Chernobyl NPP, it turned out that there were no vehicles in the USSR capable of operating at high levels of radiation. And part of the work on the Chernobyl NPP was impossible to perform without automatic remote-controlled systems.
A Chernobyl robots had to work in conditions of high radiation, move on complex surfaces (debris and obstacles), and needed to be to inspected, repaired, and decontaminated. Different types of machines were needed (for radiation reconnaissance, tele- and photographing, sampling of radioactive materials, analysis of debris, burial of radioactive materials, etc.).

This work was carried out on the roof of the Chernobyl NPP and in the areas adjacent to the destroyed block. About 15 types of modular robots were involved in the accident clean-up. Light reconnaissance robots were used to study the radiation conditions inside the sarcophagus, and heavy technological ones were intended for decontamination of the territory. But the majority turned out to be unsuitable for working in the conditions of the Chernobyl NPP. For example, the amphibious radio-controlled bulldozer Komatsu, capable of operating on the seabed, could not withstand the radiation doses and quickly broke down. Two German robots MF-2 and MF-3 could not stand the harsh conditions. The most well-known robots used at the Chernobyl NPP in 1986 were Klin-1, Specialized Transport Robot (STR-1), Klin-2, Mobot-H-HV and Mobot-H-HV-2, BAER (Beloyarets), MVT -2, TR-B1, RTK Avangard, and PP-G1 (robot intelligence).
On the outskirts of Chernobyl in the direction of Pripyat there is a special exposition platform, where real robots that participated in the Chernobyl NPP accident clean-up are displayed.

This article was published in the book Interesting Chernobyl.
You could download this book in PDF file for free here.

© Sky Horse Publishing House (Kyiv) / Nahs Haus, 2019
Copying and publication of this article is possible only with the written permission of the publishing house.
Official website of the Awesome Heritage series: awesomeheritage.com

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