A Remote radiation monitoring system using an autonomous unmanned helicopter for nuclear emergencies

原子力緊急時の無人ヘリを用いた遠隔放射線モニタリングシステム

奥山 慎一 ; 鳥居 建男  ; 鈴木 昭彦*; 澁屋 正紀*; 宮崎 信之*

Okuyama, Shinichi; Torii, Tatsuo; Suzuki, Akihiko*; Shibuya, Masanori*; Miyazaki, Nobuyuki*

原子力災害発生時には、周辺環境への放射線の影響を評価するため、陸上・海上及び空からのモニタリングが実施される。空からのモニタリングとして有人ヘリコプターによる空中モニタリングが実施されるが、航空法の制約から高度300m以下の飛行は禁止され、地上付近や複雑な地形では詳細な放射線分布測定が困難である。近年、産業用無人ヘリは自律飛行技術の進展により、火山防災等への適用が行われつつある。そこで、自律型無人ヘリを用いた遠隔空中モニタリングの可能性について調査,試験を行い、原子力防災への適用性を検討した。その結果について報告する。

In case of a nuclear emergency when a large amount of radioactive substances and/or radiation is released from a nuclear facility, emergency radiation monitoring is carried out from the sea and air as well as from the ground adjacent to the facility to evaluate the influence of the radiation on the surrounding environment. As a means of radiation monitoring from the air, aerial monitoring using a manned helicopter is conducted. Although a manned helicopter can monitor a large area during a short time, flight at an altitude of 300 m or lower is prohibited by the Aviation Law in Japan. Therefore, it is difficult for a manned helicopter to measure the radiation profile near the ground and to measure the radiation level in a complicated terrain. In recent years, technologies for autonomous flying of industrial unmanned helicopters have been developed and applied to natural disasters. In expectation of the application of unmanned helicopters to aerial radiation monitoring during a nuclear emergency, we have developed a remote radiation monitoring system and investigated its possibilities.