Sellafield, the UK’s premier nuclear decommissioning site, has achieved a remarkable milestone. It has recently finished the first successful trial of an innovative four-legged robot that swabs surfaces in radioactive areas. This innovative technology transforms public safety and efficiency in monitoring and responding to increased radiation levels. As Sellafield’s health physics team takes hundreds of daily surface swabs to keep themselves and all those they work around safe.
The humanoid robot has an enormous arm with a unique yellow swabbing tool that it uses to collect samples. It adeptly imitates the swabbing motion typically performed by human laborers. Its versatility enables it to traverse tricky terrain, saving human operators the risk of traversing dangerous environments. By utilizing data collected from these robotic swabs, Sellafield can refine its decommissioning strategies and ensure compliance with safety standards.
Sellafield’s remotely operated vehicle equipment lead Deon Bulman explained the importance of this robotic development. He stated,
“Together, these capabilities support faster, safer, and more cost-effective decommissioning operations while pushing forward the adoption of advanced robotics in the nuclear sector.”
In 2022, a landmark, record-breaking fusion experiment was conducted at the Joint European Torus facility in Culham, Oxfordshire. Throughout this test, comparable robotic technology proved its effectiveness to revolutionize operations within nuclear settings. Dr. Kirsty Hewitson, director of RAICo, noted the broader implications of this technology, mentioning it “could have an impact on both nuclear decommissioning and fusion engineering sites.”
With this robot, Sellafield is just scratching the surface of what’s possible. Feedback from its operations will allow for fine-tuning to make it as effective as possible to monitor local radiation levels. Robotics will transform the way we do radiation monitoring. This new integration is a key step to improving safety and efficiency in the decommissioning process.