Construction of virtual reality system for radiation working environment reproduced by gamma-ray imagers combined with SLAM technologies

Abstract

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., experienced a meltdown as a result of a large tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. At that time, it was necessary to understand the aspects of the decommissioning working environment inside the FDNPS, such as establishing how the radioactive substances were distributed across the site, for work to be done efficiently without exposure to large amounts of radiation. Therefore, virtual reality (VR) emerged as a solution. There have been previous reports done on a technique for visualizing the distribution of radioactive substances in three dimensions utilizing a freely moving gamma-ray imager combined with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology. In this paper, we introduce imaging technologies for the acquisition of image data from radioactive substances and three-dimensional (3D) structural models of the working environment, using a freely moving gamma-ray imager combined with SLAM technology. For this research, we also constructed a VR system and displayed the 3D data in a VR space, which enables users to experience the actual working environment without radiation exposure. In creating the VR system, any user can implement this method by donning an inexpensive head-mounted display apparatus and using a free, or low-cost, application software.