#biorobots

[sirykeeton]

My favorite biorobots

[reactor-four-official]

The Campaign of the Biorobots

An early photo of the destroyed reactor hall at CHNPP. Highly radioactive debris covers the roofs in front of and behind the ventilation chimney, as well as several other lower roofs.

The explosion at the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station on the morning of April 26th, 1986, ripped apart the very core of the reactor itself. Debris from this explosion was scattered over a large area, mostly on the grounds of the plant itself. Much of it ended up at the base of the northern wall of the reactor hall, which had itself collapsed. The remaining majority of this debris was thrown onto the roofs of the plant building, which itself had many levels and tiers. All of this debris was dangerously radioactive and much of the radiation close to the plant came from this debris.

The Soviet government, eager to be done with the Chernobyl Accident, set blisteringly tight deadlines on the liquidation efforts. To finish the Sarcophagus, an important milestone set by the government, the debris had to be cleared. They also demanded the plant be made safe so that the other three undamaged reactors could be reactivated to salvage some of their badly damaged reputation both domestically and abroad. Without clearing the debris, the reactor building of Unit 3 would have so irradiated that it would not be safe to send personnel to operate it.

The debris itself was composed of reactor components, primarily graphite, metal piping, and other assorted hardware, such as control rods and fuel assemblies. Some debris was also parts of the destroyed reactor hall. Uranium fuel pellets were also common in this area. They were still so active that they melted down into the bitumen roofing of the plant, essentially gluing them to the roof.

Radiation levels around the plant were edging apocalyptic, but they were nowhere near the levels on the roofs of the plant. These roofs were split into three areas by elevation and radiation level and named after three women related to General Nikolai Tarakanov, deputy commander of the Civil Defense Forces of the USSR. Area Katya had the lowest level of radiation, at about 1,000 roentgen per hour. Area Natasha was twice as active, with up to 2,000 roentgen per hour. But they both paled in comparison with Area Masha. This roof, the smallest but highest of the three, had fields of up to 10,000 roentgen per hour. It would take less than three minutes to receive a lethal dose here.

Below: A map of the three named roofs.

Photo credit: u/0utlander

Clearing this debris and decontaminating the buildings was a monumental task. The Chernobyl plant, an enormous construction, had many different levels to its roof that now needed to be reached and then cleared by the commission in charge of liquidation efforts. Made up of several different representatives of different ministries and enterprises within the Soviet government, they had the all resources of the USSR at their disposal.

The commission turned to NIKIMT, a Soviet think tank. This laboratory had already invented several solutions to many problems within the Chernobyl Zone, and this time they delivered another cheap yet effective idea. They proposed laying huge cloth sheets covered in water soluble glue on top of the debris, and then when the glue dried lifting the sheets away via one of the large cranes already on site building the Sarcophagus and burying it as high level radioactive waste. However, SREDMASH refused to let them use any of the cranes to test these out, as Sarcophagus construction needed to continue 24 hours a day. After this setbacks NIKIMT then proposed lifting the sheets with helicopters, but were again denied due to the dust these helicopters would kick up.

The Ministry of Energy, responsible for reactivating and subsequently operating the plant, had its own plan. They would use robots to clear the debris. Two Soviet lunar rovers were brought out of storage and retrofitted with bulldozer blades and a frame to attach a wire to lift them onto the roof via helicopter. Also brought in was a specialized West German robot named ‘Joker’, which was designed specifically to handle radioactive material. These robots had some success, notably in Zone K. Ultimately however, these robots all failed. Their circuits were severely damaged by the gamma radiation fields on the roofs, and they got stuck on debris and in the bitumen roofing. Even Joker, supposedly designed to operate in such hostile environments, got stuck when it drove over a piece of graphite and got it lodged in its treads. When it was retrieved, it was revealed it too had succumbed to the gamma field. Whoever had ordered it from West Germany had immensely underrepresented the level of radiation it would be facing.

Below: A retrofitted lunar rover cleans debris off of Zone K before its untimely demise.

Below: The West German robot, Joker, is checked over by technicians before being deployment on the roof of the plant.

On September 16, 1986, the government commission convened for an important meeting. All other means of clearing the roof had failed, and the specialists of the Ministry of Energy requested that men be sent to clear the rooftops. This unpleasant prospect had been long delayed in the hopes of finding a better solution, but now it remained the only choice to clean the roof before the completion of the Sarcophagus.

General Tarakanov began preparations to send the men under his command to the roof. He set up a mock rooftop complete with real graphite blocks and reactor components, pulled from the unfinished reactors 4 and 5, which had been under construction at the time of the accident. Since they were never used, these components were not radioactive. Protective clothing was procured, and tests were conducted on its effectiveness and the level of radiation a soldier would absorb working in the area. Routes were planned to the roofs. It was determined that the waste from the roofs would be thrown into the ruins of Reactor 4, to be sealed away under the Sarcophagus with the rest of the reactor.

Below: General Nikolai Tarakanov debriefs a group of biorobots after their sortie at the CHNPP. Tarakanov was well respected by his men and the other government ministers for taking a leading role in cleaning the roof. He personally handed out the bonus awarded to every group of biorobots after their mission and supervised the missions daily. Liquidators were limited to only 25 REM (roentgen equivalent man, basically total exposure), but the general spent so much time at the plant that he accumulated a dose of nearly 200 REM. He survived after hospitalization.

The soldiers assigned to clean the roofs, known (with not a little irony) as 'bio-robots', were outfitted with heavy leather aprons, lead sheeting torn from within buildings in Pripyat for their chests and heads, respirators, and goggles. They were given shovels and rakes to clear debris, stretchers and wheelbarrows to carry large pieces of graphite, and sledgehammers to smash any fuel pellets melted into the roof of the plant. The equipment was slipshod, the danger unclear, and the task monumental. But on September 19th, three days after the order to send men onto the roofs was issued, the general's men commenced their campaign.

Below: Two men help a Biorobot prepare to go out onto one of the roofs. Note the lead plate on his chest and leather apron on his back.

They went in small groups of 2-4 men, with another man timing them to limit their dose and ensure they did not linger too long on the rooftop. Most sorties lasted about a minute and a half, with some going as short as 20 seconds depending on the mission of a group. After receiving their orders, the men ascended through the maze of corridors to the roof they had been assigned to decontaminate. They donned their shielding, almost negligible in such strong radiation fields, and waited by one of several entrances to the roofs. Upon the signal of their supervisor, they would run out onto the roof, throw as much debris into the reactor ruins nearby, and then when the signal (usually a siren or a pipe hit with a hammer) was given they ran back inside of the plant. They removed the heavy and constraining aprons and shielding, and shuffled back down the stairs. Every man's contribution was marked down in a log book, with their name next to how much debris they had thrown back into the reactor. You can find footage of one of these sorties to Zone M here.

Igor Kostin, a reporter assigned to cover the accident, made five trips to the rooftops himself with cameras shielded in lead to capture the work of the biorobots. The radiation in these areas was so intense that it left ghostly waves on the film of photographs taken in these areas. You can see some of these photos below.

A group of bio robots works in Zone M, the most dangerous of the three roofs.

Below: Two biorobots carry a large graphite chunk on a wooden stretcher, again in Zone M. This method was used to carry large and unwieldy pieces that could not be lifted by shovel.

In the end, 3,828 men would work to clear the roofs of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station. The operation to clear them lasted from September 19th until October 1st, 12 days. The same day the operation was declared complete, Reactor 1 came online for the first time since the accident.

Radiation sickness was widespread in these men. It was common to find them curled up in the lower corridors of the plant, fighting off nausea and exhaustion. Most of these men would die young, some mere years after Chernobyl. All of them were given a little red certificate of commendation and a small cash bonus, but very little recognition was given to them after the completion of decontamination. Without them, the plant would have remained dangerously radioactive and radioactive waste would have been exposed to the atmosphere and environment for years.

Below: A group of biorobots await deployment at the CHNPP.

[fieriframes]

[Guy Fieri cooking in a kitchen preparing food, caption: We use biorobots. Men.]

[elenatria]

Chernobyl. Cleaning the roofs. Soldiers (reservists). 1986.

[rupertbbare]

Fish Mech by Sebastian Kings

[mangooseone-blog-blog]

A photograph of “liquidators” on the roof of Reactor three taken by Igor Kostin. The white streaks at the bottom of the photo were due to the high levels of radiation emanating from below.

[robotwerther]

And that's why we need the Association!

[reactor-four-official]

Footage of a group of biorobots working in Zone M at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in September 1986.

They are working to remove radioactive components of the fourth reactor which were scattered over several roofs at the CHNPP after the 1986 explosion. This roof is known as Zone M (Masha) and is right next to the destroyed reactor hall. The biorobots can be seen throwing the debris over a railing into this destroyed building to dispose of it at about the30 second mark.

This area was highly irradiated and work here was limited to a minute at most.