RAICo hosts Mr Tomoaki Kobayakawa, President & CEO of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)

RAICo was honoured to host Mr Tomoaki Kobayakawa, President & CEO of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), along with seven other delegates, at our RAICo1 facility in Whitehaven, Cumbria on 3^rd May.

During their visit to the UK, Mr Kobayakawa and the delegates also toured Sellafield Ltd, which is part of the RAICo collaboration alongside the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the University of Manchester.

When visiting RAICo1, we showcased the technological capabilities we’ve developed for nuclear decommissioning, including robotic glovebox, remote handling systems, remote operated cutting tool, and submersibles and positioning system. The group also saw demonstrations of technologies developed through the UK-Japan LongOps project, which TEPCO intends to utilise for Fukushima Daiichi’s fuel debris retrievals.

Dr Kirsty Hewitson, the Director of RAICo, said: “We appreciated Mr Kobayakawa and the TEPCO delegates’ visit to our RAICo1 facility. 

“At RAICo, it’s important for us to understand the end-user needs to ensure alignment with deployment requirements and deliver maximum benefit. Between the UK and Japan, we share challenges regarding how an end-user, the supply chain and research organisations can work together. 

“TEPCO’s visit is proof that Cumbria is internationally recognised as a robotics and AI hub for nuclear decommissioning and we are keen to continue our positive engagement. We will seek to develop further collaborative opportunities with TEPCO to support their fuel debris retrieval work which will also help NDA, Sellafield and other potential end-users in the UK.”

The UK-Japan LongOps project between TEPCO, NDA, UKRI and UKAEA, which has built the foundation for RAICo, has developed technologies including Next Generation Digital Mock-Ups for nuclear decommissioning which TEPCO intends to utilise for Fukushima Daiichi’s fuel debris retrievals. Our RAICo1 facility is equipped with a control room which can demonstrate such capabilities.

Mr Tomoaki Kobayakawa, President & CEO of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said:  “RAICo is highly motivated in research and development. It is great that the team is proactive and positive.

“RAICo works very closely with end-users such as Sellafield. They understand end-users’ real challenges and reflect end-users’ feedback in their work. We can learn from this in Japan. (For our fuel-debris retrieval work) it is important to obtain understanding from the general public. Using world-standard tools and platforms will help this. I strongly hope for further progress of digital twin technologies.”

Mr Tomoaki Kobayakawa, President & CEO of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said:  “RAICo is highly motivated in research and development. It is great that the team is proactive and positive.