Sharp screens, fuzzy futureFEW tasks are more urgent for Japan than the clean-up of the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Extracting spent fuel-rods from its toxic reactor buildings calls for a new generation of remote-controlled robots. One gadget broke down last spring after just a few hours’ operating amid intense radiation. This month Toshiba, a conglomerate ranging from semiconductors to nuclear engineering, unveiled a scorpion-shaped robot equipped with multiple live-feed cameras that will go into action at the plant next year.
That is a reminder of how important the company remains at home, where it is a pillar of the engineering establishment. But its financial plight has deepened following an accounting scandal that began early last year and that obliged Toshiba to restate its profits to the tune of ¥152 billion ($1.3 billion). An investigation ordered by the firm concluded that, under the guidance of Atsutoshi Nishida, its boss from 2005 to 2009, employees began doctoring losses into paper profits and continued doing so under two subsequent bosses.
Its crisis deepened in December,...Continue reading
Source: Business and finance http://ift.tt/1QGzWp5
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