Prodigious periscope for PFBR

Friday, 26 August 2011 What is claimed to be the world's longest periscope, measuring 10 metres in length, has been developed to view inside India's first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) during maintenance outages, The Hindu reported. The $845,000 periscope can be operated remotely and has motorised facilities for scanning an area of interest as well as image zooming and rotation. The indigenously-developed periscope will be used by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at the 500 MWe PFBR, currently under construction by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (Bhavini) at the Kalpakkam plant near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. The periscope, which was manufactured by Coimbatore-based Visual Education Aids, was dedicated to the Indian nation on 22 August.