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Engineers have designed a robotic system for hazardous work on the Dounreay Prototype Fast Reactor. The two-armed machine - which also hasÌýten eyes and four ears - has been named 'Reactorsaurus'.

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The entire machine and a close-up of one of its arms

The 75 tonne robot takes the form of a traversing carriage with two 16 metre arms. Operators in a remote control room will use binocular cameras on each arm to take apart the highly radioactive internal structures of the 254 MWe reactor.

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The arms will be able to cut up and reduce the size of reactor components using diamond wire, hydraulic shears, oxy/propane and plasma cutting. Operators will also be able to listen in on the action usingÌýtwo microphones on each of the arms.

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Jared Fraser, head of the Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd's design team, said: "Completion of the design phase of a complex and unique piece of equipment like this is a credit to the entire team who have worked tirelessly for the past year."

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The robot will only be used after 2013. Before then, decommissioning engineers will practice their techniques in a full-size simulated model of the reactorÌýbuilt off-site. A tender for the construction of the model is due to be issued this year, with the model itself taking two years of build.

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The Prototype Fast Reactor generated power for the UK grid from 1976 until 1994. It was built as the prototype for a new generation of UK advanced reactors but did not perform to expectations. It is also proving difficult to decommission due to the activation of its liquid sodium coolant.