Sellafield’s health physics team have kicked off a brilliant trial. Now, they’re deploying Spot, a four-legged robot developed by Boston Dynamics, to measure radiation levels in dangerous environments. The forward-thinking project’s overall goal is to improve safety and efficiency in settings—warehouses, factories, distribution centers—where human operators are often put in harm’s way.
The final round of this trial, which just wrapped up, utilized a specialized swabbing device, called RAICo, intended to be used on the robot. This technology allows Spot to perform surface swabs in locations that hold radioactive materials. The successful test carried out at Sellafield follows an initial successful test at the Joint European Torus facility based in Culham, Oxfordshire. There, the technology proved its potential on a carefully controlled stage.
Deon Bulman manages the remotely operated vehicle kit at Sellafield. He focused on the myriad benefits of incorporating robotics into radiation monitoring workflows. “Those capabilities support faster, safer, and more cost-effective decommissioning operations,” he stated. The robot is moving in really agile, responsive ways. It fearlessly traverses environments that are too unsafe for human employees, making it an indispensable tool in the decommissioning mission.
The swabbing tool is unique because it imitates human operators on the move. It gives you ‘haptic feedback,’ which increases control, precision and response during procedure. Spot has a big, extendable arm on the front that firmly grips a long yellow swabbing tool. This feature supports rigorous, precise surface sampling that guarantees effective evaluation and cleanup of contaminated surfaces.
Dr. Kirsty Hewitson, director of RAICo, commented on the importance of this development in the nuclear industry. Bulman echoed this sentiment, highlighting that the project is “pushing forward the adoption of advanced robotics in the nuclear sector.” This NPRM proposal is a significant move in the direction of modernizing important safety protocols while furthering operational efficiencies at facilities such as Sellafield.
The health physics team at Sellafield executes several hundred surface swabs a day to monitor radioactive contamination. The new Spot, in tandem with the new RAICo tool, should make these important efforts more efficient, while keeping safety as a top priority. Sellafield uses advanced robotic technology to enhance the efficiency of its radiation monitoring operations. This initiative has supported much safer working conditions for its personnel.