The United Kingdom is pioneering the use of autonomous robotics to tackle the complex and hazardous challenge of segregating radioactive waste at its nuclear plants. This innovative approach aims to enhance safety, reduce costs, and accelerate the decommissioning of legacy nuclear sites, removing human workers from highly radioactive environments.
A New Era in Waste Management
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its partners are spearheading this technological shift. A significant initiative is the £9.5 million Auto-SAS project, a collaboration involving Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS), Sellafield Ltd, Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), AtkinsRéalis, and Createc (operating as ARCTEC). This project is set to deploy innovative technology for the first time on a nuclear site to remotely and autonomously sort and segregate radioactive waste.
Traditionally, the manual segregation of radioactive waste is a complex and dangerous task, often leading to mixed waste being classified at the highest contamination level to ensure safety, even if parts of it are less hazardous. This over-categorisation results in more costly waste disposal routes. By employing robotics, the UK seeks to accurately categorise waste, leading to substantial savings potentially in the hundreds of millions of pounds.
The Auto-SAS system will initially be deployed at the former Oldbury nuclear power plant site (NRS Oldbury) to separate low-level waste from intermediate-level waste retrieved from vaults. The long-term ambition is to apply these learnings and technologies across other NDA group sites, including Sellafield.
Key Sites Embracing Robotic Solutions
Robotic technologies are already proving their worth across several critical UK nuclear sites:
Sellafield: Tackling Complex Legacy Waste
Sellafield, the UK’s most complex nuclear site, has been at the forefront of integrating robotics into its decommissioning efforts. Robots are being used for remote inspections, data gathering, clean-up operations, and the retrieval of waste from its oldest and most challenging storage facilities, such as the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo and the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond.
Notably, “Spot” the quadrupedal robot dog, equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors, has been deployed at Sellafield for navigating hazardous areas, building 3D images, and even assisting with waste sorting and segregation. This allows for detailed surveys without human entry into high-radiation environments. Another advanced system, CARMA II, an autonomous robotic platform, has successfully completed trials at Sellafield, mapping radiation levels and providing critical data to health physics teams, further minimising human exposure.
Dounreay: Accessing the Inaccessible
At the Dounreay nuclear complex in Caithness, robots are crucial for inspecting and characterising areas that are unsafe or inaccessible to human workers. Snake-like robots have been trialed to survey confined spaces and underfloor ducts in redundant laboratories. A robot named Lyra surveyed a 140-meter-long underfloor duct, collecting data with radiation probes, cameras, and LiDAR, and even taking swabs with a manipulator arm.
“Spot” has also been trialed at Dounreay for various remote sensing projects, including security, planning, environmental, and safety use cases, successfully navigating an evaporator cell that had been shut off for 25 years. Furthermore, a giant robotic crane was previously utilised to remove dangerous radioactive waste from a pit at the Dounreay site.
The Technological Edge
The robotic systems employed in nuclear decommissioning leverage a range of advanced technologies:
Advanced Sensors and Mapping
Robots are equipped with sophisticated sensors that can accurately categorise waste by detecting radiation levels and material types. Technologies like LiDAR enable robots to navigate complex, hazardous environments and create detailed 3D maps, providing vital information for decommissioning planning.
Robotic Manipulators and Remote Operation
High-precision robotic arms and manipulators are used to grasp, cut, and consign waste items to the most appropriate disposal routes. These robots are often operated remotely from behind shielded walls, entirely removing human workers from the direct vicinity of radioactive materials.
Autonomous Navigation
The development of truly autonomous systems allows robots to navigate nuclear facilities independently, reducing the need for constant human oversight. This capability is vital for surveying and processing waste in highly contaminated or structurally compromised areas that pose an extreme risk to human life.
Collaborative Innovation for a Safer Future
The progress in this field is driven by strong collaboration between government bodies, academic institutions, and industry leaders. The National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR) and the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear (RAIN) Hub, comprising a consortium of universities, play a vital role in developing ground-breaking techniques and training the next generation of roboticists.
The integration of robotics and AI is seen as a “game-changing opportunity” that will accelerate nuclear waste management and decommissioning. By embracing these cutting-edge technologies, the UK aims to lead the world in safe, efficient nuclear clean-up, creating a safer environment for future generations while also fostering new skills and economic opportunities.
