Fukushima: Terror Turning Just a Little Robotic

Robots are cool. Robot pictures are about the future, and science, and the application of advanced technological know-how. And generally, robot pictures are fun.

These all-too-clinical pictures from Fukushima (that historic nuke eco-disaster that manages, somehow, to keep falling out of the news stream) gives off that “progress”/”we’re getting at it” vibe. To the extent it does, however, it clashes with the other take-away here, that plant contamination continues to rise and human beings can hardly access the hot zones without an escalating risk of being permanently fried.

I really like the middle shot, by the way, for the fact you can see an actually human being behind the glass. By the way, doesn’t the unit there look like an old and a little rusty front loading washing machine someone stashed in their attic?

(photo: TEPCO. captions: Packbot working inside the reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 — April 17, 2011.)