Robotic solution to aid nuclear decommissioning

In particular, the project’s goal is to aid in both the clean-up of the primary containment vessel at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, and in decommissioning operations at Sellafield nuclear site in the UK.

Due to radiation and environmental uncertainties, standard robotic manipulators used in industrial applications have been recognised as unsuitable for nuclear decommissioning scenarios.

Principal investigator Dr Romeo Glovnea — head of Sussex University's Department of Engineering and Design, and the department’s Robotics and Mechatronic Systems Research Group — explained that through proposing a robotic manipulator based on a novel Variable Impedence Actuator (VIA) the group hopes to develop a ‘collision-safe’ robotic solution that can navigate and interact in cluttered environments without malfunction or added sensor feedback.

“We expect that this manipulator will solve the challenges associated with limited sensor availability due to radiation hazards: safely interacting with sensitive materials, and resilience in events of communication and sensor failure or during misoperation in teleoperation protocols,” Dr Glovnea told The Engineer.