🇯🇵 Fukushima firm expands into AI robotics

BeABLE, a company based in Hirono in Fukushima Prefecture, is building a new factory in Futaba to develop AI-powered robots for nuclear decommissioning work in high-radiation environments. The company will develop physical AI systems for autonomous robot operation, with the roughly 3,000-square-meter facility scheduled to start operations in March 2027.

The move builds on BeABLE’s decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after the 2011 disaster, including its 2019–2020 remote cutting of the plant’s roughly 120-meter shared exhaust stack for reactors No. 1 and No. 2. Decommissioning still faces major technical barriers, including removal of melted fuel debris and spent fuel from damaged reactor buildings, making remotely operated and autonomous systems a strategic requirement.

The new site will include development and manufacturing rooms for large equipment, a test area simulating decommissioning sites, and a course for autonomous-driving experiments. The project aligns with a broader government push to position Fukushima as a center for AI use in decommissioning.

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@asianomics