Robot on a mission - to detect radioactive contamination in hazardous nuclear environments

Successfully trialled astatine Sellafield successful 2024, CARMA II demonstrated its quality to execute regular radiation monitoring and surveying

A robotic strategy that tin observe radioactive contamination connected the floors of large-scale bequest nuclear facilities has completed aggregate deployments successful a radioactive environment.

CARMA II, an autonomous robotic platform, has been developed by the University of Manchester successful concern with the Robotics and AI Collaboration (RAICo) and with enactment from Ice Nine Robotics. Using a operation of sensors, it navigates atomic environments to make ‘heat maps’ of radiation levels, providing further enactment to Sellafield’s wellness physics personnel.

Keir Groves, who was a Research Fellow from the University of Manchester and CARMA II improvement pb erstwhile the deployments took place, said: “In each our enactment with the atomic industry, our eventual aims are to region radical from harm and trim the outgo of government-funded atomic decommissioning successful the UK.

“Following respective years of adjacent collaboration with Sellafield Ltd and Ice Nine, a robotics solutions business, and with second signifier on-the-ground enactment successful preparations for deployment from the RAICo squad astatine their main installation successful Whitehaven, CARMA II is present acceptable to beryllium adopted by the manufacture and fulfil these aims.”

There are galore facilities wrong the atomic decommissioning assemblage that necessitate regular monitoring and surveying, to conform to regulatory requirements, and support harmless works operation. When carried retired manually by humans with handheld scanners, the process is time-consuming and repetitive.

CARMA II – which contains an on-board laser scanner, 2 3D extent cameras arsenic good arsenic alpha, beta, and gamma radiation detectors - volition springiness the teams a caller instrumentality to accelerate the process and perchance standardise the results. Data collected from CARMA II’s frequent, granular, and repeatable surveys is past interpreted by the wellness physics professionals.

Most importantly, utilising a robotic level to execute radiation monitoring surveys increases relation safety, preventing immoderate imaginable vulnerability to radiation. CARMA II has been deployed successful 2 abstracted locations connected the Sellafield tract to validate its capableness and find its relevance arsenic a imaginable “business-as-usual” instrumentality that could beryllium utilized successful immoderate of the astir highly radioactive environments astatine Sellafield.

Using well-known and surveyed drum stores to comparison with the information gathered by CARMA II, a low-radioactivity country and a highly radioactive country were chosen to implicit these palmy deployments. RAICo is simply a concern betwixt the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield and the University of Manchester. It aims to accelerate the deployment of robotics and AI successful atomic decommissioning and fusion engineering.

Dr Kirsty Hewitson, Director of RAICo, said: “This task is simply a cleanable illustration of collaborative moving betwixt RAICo and manufacture partners. A crisp absorption from each parties connected the occupation connection and end-user requirements has resulted successful the transportation of a level that could bring astir meaningful change. CARMA II’s abilities to bring ratio to atomic decommissioning, and region humans from harmful radioactive environments, underscore overmuch of what we question to execute astatine RAICo. I look guardant to seeing this technology utilized crossed the wider atomic estate.”

Matthew Nancekievill, CEO of Ice Nine, said: “CARMA II solves a existent and contiguous occupation successful the atomic decommissioning sector. We are present successful the process of making a fig of tweaks, pursuing the palmy deployments, arsenic we hole the level for commercialized readiness and imaginable roll-out to Sellafield and the wider NDA estate.”

Summarising the interaction this level could person astatine Sellafield and the wider NDA estate, Nicholas Clarke, Remediation, Technology and Innovation Lead astatine Sellafield, said: “I ever look for ways to enactment smarter, not conscionable harder. Technologies specified arsenic CARMA II, which tin escaped up our Health Physics monitors to absorption connected high-hazard hazard simplification work, are cardinal to enabling our ngo of hazard and hazard simplification and lifecycle worth done safe, unafraid transportation astatine pace.”