TOKYO: Readings Monday from a robot that entered two crippled buildings at Japan's tsunami-flooded nuclear plant for the first time in more than a month displayed a harsh environment still too radioactive for workers to enter. Nuclear officials said the radiation data for Unit 1 and Unit 3 at the tsunami-flooded Fukushima Daiichi plant – collected by a US-made robot that looks like a drafting lamp on treads – do not alter plans for stabilizing the complex by year's end under a “road map” released by the plant operator Sunday. The robot, called a Packbot, haltingly entered the two buildings Sunday and took readings for temperature, pressure and radioactivity. More data must be collected and radioactivity must be further reduced before workers are allowed inside, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. “It's a harsh environment for humans to work inside,” Nishiyama said. Officials said the radiation findings should not hamper the goal of achieving a cold shutdown of the plant within six to nine months as laid out in a timetable TEPCO announced Sunday. Rather, the new information would help the company in figuring out how to push ahead with the plan. “We have expected high radioactivity inside the reactor buildings, which was confirmed by data collected by the robot,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. “Even I had expected high radioactivity in those areas. I'm sure TEPCO and other experts have factored in those figures when they compiled the roadmap.” TEPCO official Takeshi Makigami said the robots must pave the way for workers to be able to re-enter the building. “What robots can do is limited, so eventually, people must enter the buildings,” Makigami said.
