Robotics for Nuclear Monitoring and Inspection - 18029

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2018

OSTI ID:22975257

Scott, Thomas B.; Martin, Peter G.; Payton, Oliver D.; Fardoulis, John S.; Russell-Pavier, Freddie S.; Teague, Jonathan; Connor, Dean ^[1]

---

1. University of Bristol, UK, BS8 1TL (United Kingdom)

As a greater number of the world's nuclear facilities approach the end of their planned lifetime and enter the decommissioning and dismantling phase, a greater impetus than ever is being placed on the use of novel technologies to assist in this otherwise extremely lengthy, complicated and costly process. Being host to numerous first-generation plants, as well as the Sellafield Limited nuclear reprocessing facility, the UK is now requiring the use of a range of robotic systems and is well-placed to act as a test-bed for the deployment of these platforms. Presented in this work is the overview of the wide range of robotic research that is occurring at the University of Bristol. Not limited to ground-based platforms - those developed at the University Bristol,UK, include; airborne, underwater as well as pipeline network monitoring systems. Through the application of each of these robotic systems, not only is the dose-rate otherwise experienced by the operator removed, but the costs associated with the work are also significantly reduced, as well as the speed at which it is performed dramatically increased. All the systems descried in this work have been successfully deployed at one (or multiple) nuclear sites, with the results used to inform further decommissioning - typically within environments previously uncharacterised due either to their inaccessibility or high levels of radioactivity. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22975257
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--20-WM-18029
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AUTOMATION
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
EFFICIENCY
ON-SITE INSPECTION
PERFORMANCE
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIATION MONITORS
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOACTIVITY
REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING
REACTOR DISMANTLING
REMOTE SENSING
REPROCESSING
ROBOTS
SELLAFIELD REPROCESSING PLANT
UNDERWATER OPERATIONS