The Third 2018 Fukushima Research Conference (FRC).

　Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), held the FY2018 3rd Fukushima Research Conference (FRC) entitled “Remote Technologies in Nuclear Facilities” at the Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development in Naraha Town, Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture from October 30 to 21, 2018.

　This conference was held jointly with the Committee on Safety Recovery System, System Integration Division, the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, which has knowledge on the robot system contributing to the removal and decontamination of abandoned chemical weapons and contaminated structural materials.

　This conference aimed that technologists in wide fields exchange information and opinions about the remote technologies in nuclear facilities focusing on the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS). The main topics discussed in the conference were; 1) application of remote control technology to robots for decommissioning and disaster correspondence, 2) application of measurement technology to decommissioning and disaster correspondence using robots, 3) operation training using simulation technology and virtual reality technology, and 4) experience and current status of the decommissioning of FDNPS.

　On the first day, as a keynote speech, Professor Hajime Asama of the University of Tokyo, who has been making an effort to develop robot technology related to the FDNPS accident response, presented the current status and future subjects for the remote control technology at FDNPS. Then, Dr. Kenji Kaneko (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) as a member of the Committee on Safety Recovery System, System Integration Division, the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers, presented an invited lecture on the effort to apply humanoid robot to severe environment. After the lectures, the participants visited the test and training facilities at the Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development. The participants deepened their understanding about the mock-up environment that is important in the research and development of remote technologies such as robots in the severe environment like FDNPS where the training cannot be conducted on-site. In the poster session, mainly young researchers gave presentation and made active discussion about the topics in wide fields, such as; 1) operation of nuclear disaster response robots, 2) measurement technology for the investigation by remote control robot, 3) method for the evaluation test of the robot performance, and 4) application of simulator and virtual reality technology to the training of robot operators and workers.

　About eighty people participated in the conference including five participants from foreign countries (four participants from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, and one participant from the Curtin University, Australia).

　On October 31, Professor Robin Murphy of Texas A&M University, USA, who is internationally working on the development of rescue robots at the disaster site, made an invited talk and presented the robot demonstration.