The health physics team at Sellafield has recently started an innovative trial. To keep workers safe, they’re deploying a commercially available, four-legged robot known as Spot to areas with high radiation and other dangers. This novel technique improves the safety and efficiency of everyday monitoring tasks. We might take hundreds of swabs of surfaces every day, looking specifically for radiation contamination.
The trial used a purpose-built swabbing tool with the brand name RAICo, intended for mounting on Spot. This feature gives the robot the ability to execute swabbing movements that are highly representative of the movements usually made by human operators. The robot includes a long, extendable arm that is equipped with a yellow swabbing tool. This unique shape allows it to easily stretch and contour to a variety of services.
Deon Bulman, who manages the plant’s remotely operated vehicle equipment, spoke to the benefits of using Spot for these operations. With Bulman’s new robot, its speed of movement and ability to take commands means it can be sent into places deemed too perilous for a human employee.
“Those capabilities support faster, safer, and more cost-effective decommissioning operations.” – Deon Bulman
The RAICo trial at Sellafield is the latest step in a growing move to introduce advanced robotics into the nuclear industry. In 2022, researchers completed a test that produced a net gain at the Joint European Torus facility in Culham, Oxfordshire. This milestone opened up new avenues for robotic technologies to supplement safety procedures.
When integrated with robotics systems, such as Spot, to assist with radiation monitoring, it increases operational efficiency. It provides important haptic feedback to the user while swabbing to help guide the procedure. This feedback provides a much higher fidelity control and precision in detecting radiation on surfaces.
Dr. Kirsty Hewitson, director of RAICo, emphasized the importance of these advancements, stating that the ongoing development and deployment of robots could significantly transform practices in the nuclear industry.
Bulman further noted that the utilization of robots like Spot is “pushing forward the adoption of advanced robotics in the nuclear sector,” indicating a shift towards more automated processes aimed at protecting human workers and ensuring thorough monitoring of radioactive environments.
