The challenge was to design, construct and test a remotely controlled, boom-type robotic arm system (PFDR) for validating the techniques and technology for removing small volumes of fuel debris from the highly radioactive and highly contaminated environment of the disabled Fukushima Unit 2 Reactor.
The key goal of PFDR Phase 2 was to verify that the complete Boom (comprising Distal Boom and Links Assembly) can pass through the Reactor X6 Port passage, which connects the air-tight cell, which will house the Boom system, with the Reactor Primary Containment Vessel (PCV). All of this was to be verified in a mock-up of the x6 port in the Abingdon facility.