Autonomous mobile patrol system for nuclear power plants: field test report of vehicle navigation and sensor positioning

The integrity in components of an operating nuclear power plant (NPP) is usually monitored on a daily basis by operator patrols. Currently, there is a pressing need to replace such human patrol activities by systems of automated monitoring in order to reduce radiation exposure and the workload imposed on operators. From this perspective, and under the sponsorship of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), we embarked upon a R&D project in 1991 with the objective of developing TOSHIBA Remote Inspection System (TOSRIS) for NPPs. We built a prototype system and examined it in a mockup of a typical NPP environments. This project was completed in 1996. This paper describes the concept of TOSRIS, how the inspection position is calculated, how plans are passed using a 3D-CAD database, and mockup tests.