Sellafield has recently carried out the first ever live trial with a new swabbing tool, developed for use by Spot – the site’s four-legged robot. Meet RAICo, an exciting new tool that docks directly to the robot. The feature enables the robot to quickly decontaminate surfaces in areas with radioactive contaminants. The successful trial is a significant milestone in ensuring the safe delivery of decommissioning operations across the site. It seeks to increase efficiency in these efforts.
The RAICo swabbing tool has been used to enable Spot’s robotic movements to mimic the repetitive manual swabbing actions common to worker’s jobs. Sellafield’s health physics team performs hundreds of surface swabs every single day. Through their meticulous efforts, they gather critical information that informs decommissioning plans and maintains the highest safety precautions. By automating the process with robotics, the goal is to increase the safety of operations as a whole.
Deon Bulman, who manages the plant’s remotely operated vehicle equipment, highlighted the benefits of using Spot in dangerous environments. “Those capabilities support faster, safer, and more cost-effective decommissioning operations,” he stated. The robot’s speed and intelligence allow it to operate in areas too risky for human workers, increasing safety.
Spot is fitted with a long, extendable arm that carries the yellow RAICo swabbing tool. An ergonomic design provides optimal control when swabbing samples during collection. The robot’s haptic feedback function further enhances this control. Bulman pointed out that this added capability allows for more flexibility and accuracy while executing operations.
As Dr. Kirsty Hewitson, director of RAICo, stated, the trial has wider implications. This comes on the heel of a highly successful test last year at the Joint European Torus facility in Culham, Oxfordshire. This facility originally oriented towards fusion technology has since grown its research into advanced robotics for nuclear applications.
The trial at Sellafield is another important milestone. It continues to fuel the adoption of advanced robotics in the nuclear sector. By testing whether robots can be effectively utilized to monitor radiation levels, Sellafield is taking proactive measures to enhance safety and efficiency in its decommissioning efforts.