A remote control robotic arm has been successfully tested for nuclear decommissioning at Sellafield.
A key challenge at Sellafield is how to safely clean up and dispose of hundreds of redundant nuclear gloveboxes accumulated over decades. Nuclear gloveboxes are sealed containers with built-in gloves that allow operators to handle radioactive materials safely, such as pipework, cables or sharp objects. Some gloveboxes are up to 60 years old and are difficult to access.
A partnership between Sellafield Ltd and AtkinsRéalis, in collaboration with Cavendish Nuclear and Taylor Kightley Engineering, has developed and successfully demonstrated a robotic arm that can be safely retrofitted to a nuclear glovebox.
At its heart is the AtkinsRéalis Remote Glovebox Operations system that can be inserted into an existing glovebox and controlled remotely and safely by operators. After months of design work and offsite testing, the system was deployed in two gloveboxes at Sellafield’s MOX Active Demonstration Facility.
The robotic arm successfully carried out a complex series of precise glovebox tasks while maintaining full containment integrity. This means it can now be deployed on other legacy gloveboxes at Sellafield and other Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Group sites.
Ahead of schedule, under budget
Nicholas Clarke, Sellafield remediation technology and innovation lead, said: “The project has delivered outstanding results, completing months ahead of schedule and significantly under budget. It demonstrates the viability of robotic glovebox operations and shows what we can achieve when we enable our teams to collaborate, think freely and innovate together.
“And we’ve gained valuable insight into how this technology can be scaled up to support the wider Sellafield mission and help other nuclear sites across the UK and globally.”
Robert Marwood, head of robotics and technology at AtkinsRéalis, added: “Removing hands from gloveboxes is a key challenge for the nuclear industry. This collaboration is a great demonstration of how solutions from other industries can be integrated into the nuclear sector in a lean and agile manner. By driving innovation, we can make nuclear operations safer and more efficient.”
