Officials say it’s safer, more accurate and tremendously faster than having workers take external measurements to identify which pipes need to be removed and decontaminated at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. With the robot mapping uranium deposits and automatically logging data, some pipe analysis that used to take weeks can be finished same-day. It works only in straight pipes, so workers still must manually check bends and valves. The union representing many workers at the site remains cautious about robots replacing good-paying, locally coveted jobs. Companies and countries have expressed interest in the technology, Rimando said, noting it could be useful anywhere with nuclear capabilities.

Source: National Post April 21, 2018 16:52 UTC