November 12, 2020 – Flyability partnered with DroneUA to carry out a critical mission at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, aiming to determine if nuclear waste was present in one of its decommissioned reactors. One year ago, Flyability pilots embarked on a groundbreaking mission at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of one of the most devastating nuclear accidents in history, which occurred in April 1986. A video captured by the Elios 2 flying inside Reactor Five At the time of the disaster, Reactor Five was still under construction and close to completion. Due to the urgency of the evacuation, there were no records confirming whether the holding pools in Reactor Five had ever been filled with depleted uranium fuel rods, for which they were originally designed. Thirty-three years later, the Chernobyl decommissioning team needed to confirm if any nuclear waste remained inside Reactor Five. To do this, they turned to Flyability’s expert pilots to conduct an inspection inside the reactor, with two main objectives: first, to check if any fuel rods were present, and second, to verify whether the primary equipment used in the reactor had ever been installed. The Elios 2 is widely used in nuclear power plants for inspections, helping improve safety and significantly reducing turnaround times—the period during which the plant is shut down for maintenance and inspection. However, this mission marked the first time a Flyability drone was involved in a decommissioning effort at a nuclear facility. [Related read: What Is a Dosimeter?] “The Chernobyl mission was challenging because the wall we had to fly over was 70 meters high, so there was no way to recover the drone if the signal was lost,†said Charles Rey, Training Manager at Flyability and one of the mission leaders. “But it was a huge success, and the Chernobyl team was very pleased with the video and images we collected inside Reactor Five.†The Chernobyl decommissioning team had limited experience with using drones for remote visual data collection. The Elios 2 proved to be an ideal tool, as its protective cage allows it to enter tight, indoor spaces and gather visual data for inspection purposes. Although the reactor structure remains intact, accessing areas where nuclear waste might have been stored was impossible due to their extreme height. Flyability pilots conducted the mission from a pit that was about 25 meters deep—an area that would have been completely inaccessible if the plant were still operational. Using the Elios 2, the pilots successfully flew into Reactor Five and collected enough visual data to confirm that the holding pools were empty and that no nuclear waste was present inside the reactor. This discovery was significant, as no prior evidence had confirmed the emptiness of these pools. Following the mission, the Chernobyl decommissioning team planned to include the visual data gathered by the Elios 2 in a report submitted to international authorities regarding the status of the plant's reactors. --- About Flyability Flyability is a Swiss company that develops solutions for inspecting and exploring indoor, inaccessible, and confined spaces. By enabling safe drone operations inside buildings, it helps industrial companies and professionals reduce downtime, inspection costs, and worker risks. With hundreds of customers across more than 50 countries in sectors like Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Maritime, Infrastructure & Utilities, and Public Safety, Flyability has pioneered and continues to lead innovation in the commercial indoor drone industry. For more information, visit www.flyability.com or follow us on @fly_ability. Contact: info@flyability.com, +41 21 311 55 00 Truck Mounted Water Well Drilling Rig Truck Mounted Well Drilling Rigs,Truck Mounted Water Well Drill,Truck Mounted Water Well Drilling Rigs,Truck Mounted Well Drilling Rig Taian Longye Import And Export Trade Co.,ltd , https://www.drillingrigfactory.com