UK and Japan tackle legacy of Fukushima and Sellafield with robotics collaboration, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 20 Jan 2021 Professional Engineering, Dangerous radioactive material from Fukushima and Sellafield will be retrieved by robots thanks to a new collaboration between the UK and Japan. The £12m LongOps project is also aimed at automating aspects of nuclear fusion energy production, alongside decommissioning goals. The four-year research collaboration will use long-reach robotic arms to make decommissioning faster and safer at Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan and at Sellafield in the UK. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster saw a triple meltdown, three hydrogen explosions and the release of radioactive material after the loss of reactor core cooling following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.