Robotics Challenges in Fission Decommissioning

1. Challenges for Robotics in Fission Dr Darren Potter 12th March 2019 darren.potter@nnl.co.uk

2. Opportunities: • 74% UK decommissioning based at Sellafield • Productivity saving from robotics in other sectors 10-20% • SL challenged with decommissioning cost saving • Improved safety: High reliance on Human intervention • Advances in robotics and autonomous system have not been fully embraced • Waste treatment /conditioning: • Available space to build new stores is limited • Reduce number of waste containers • Lifetime costs for waste containers Opportunities for Robotics in Fission Challenges for Robotics in Fission

3. Manufacturing Fixed highly structured environment Fission RAI operates in ‘Unstructured Environments’ which are constantly evolving and dynamic due to continuously changing decommissioning environment. Challenges for Robotics in Fission Specific Challenges

4. POCO • Broad front decommissioning: • Waste treatment & conditioning • Size reduction • Sort & segregation • Robot human interface and interaction • Ponds & Silos • Decommissioning • Care maintenance and inspection for future spent fuel management • Storage • Store filling and emptying • Container repackaging • Care maintenance and inspection • Human Intervention • Remove hands from gloveboxes • Robot assistance • Robotically enhanced operatives Challenges Challenges for Robotics in Fission

5. Larger amount of mixed waste is produced during a decommissioning project efficient sorting and segregation of this material saves, cost, waste storage place and reduces decommissioning timescales. Challenges: Sort, segregation and manipulation Challenges for Robotics in Fission

6. The following must be considered: • Picking and placing material up • Identification of material • Identification of contamination • Removal of contamination • Sorting and stacking materials in a waste container • Fully autonomous operations (can already be done manually) • 24hr / 7 days a week • Show it is more efficient than human processing • Show it is cheaper than present methods Challenges for Robotics in Fission Boundaries

7. Replace the standard operations in a glovebox, and remove the need for manual intervention tasks. The approach should consider: • No design changes to existing gloveboxes • Off the shelf equipment • International benchmarking (what is already happening) • Haptic control of humanoid arms in gloveboxes • VR perception and simulation for visual control of operations Challenge: Zero hands glovebox operations Challenges for Robotics in Fission

8. The key challenges are as follows: • Safety improvements via the reduction in the number of manual cell entries • There are a high number of planned future manual cell entries and the risk to the operator increases with every cell entry. • Reduce secondary waste generation • The secondary generation of waste (e.g. PVC and air-fed suits, tools) from manual operations is high in proportion to primary waste removed, up to 12 times. • Increased productivity • Productivity is directly dependant on the workface time of an operative on the task, which is typically 2-3hrs (due to getting into/out of PPE, work area temperature and radiation dose) out of 8hrs shift. Planning of decommissioning activities could be improved e.g. through use of virtual reality. This includes operator enhancement and operator assist. Challenge: Operator support (eg suits, wearable technology) Challenges for Robotics in Fission

9. Plan decommissioning tasks to enable fast efficient plant dismantling with no man entry. Challenge of integration: Individual technologies need to integrated into a system. Need to be simple to change and update. Challenge • Install, deploy and operate remove kit from a safe out-cell position to take plant apart, after operations remove the kit for reuse. • Characterisation and asset management • Plant to be removed • Pipes • Vessels • Plant supporting structures • Pumps (CV’s) • Gloveboxes Challenge: Decommissioning - Plant removal in a facility Challenges for Robotics in Fission

10. The following must be considered: • Access to the cell • Safe operations • Care and maintenance of the kit • How it is to be operated • Ease of operation • How it is to be recovered • How can it be re-used Boundaries: Decommissioning - Plant removal in a facility Challenges for Robotics in Fission

11. Continuous Development & Improvement • Cultural challenge for robotic engagement within the nuclear sector • Upskilling of RAI across the whole sector including Tier 2/3, SME’s • Increase cross sectorial Harsh Environment RAI – Currently silo’d • Focus research from structured teleoperations and automation through to development of autonomous RAI in unstructured environments. • Maximise leverage opportunitiesavailable from national and international RAS capabilities into research programmes • Continued government support to the wider international market Upskilling for use and development of Robotic Technology People – upskilling / education Increased SME engagement Suppliers - Tier 2/3 innovation uptake Challenges for Robotics in Fission What more can be done?

12. Ideas? Challenges for Robotics in Fission