The challenge set by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) - in partnership with Magnox Ltd, Sellafield Ltd and Innovate UK - was to come up with innovative approaches to remotely sort and segregate radioactive waste.
Veolia Nuclear Solutions has been successful in the first phase which will cover feasibility studies for the concept including robotics, advanced sensors and artificial intelligence. Our proposal addresses the challenge of sorting and segregating the vast amount of radioactive waste to be produced during nuclear decommissioning operations.
We will develop an intelligent toolkit that is compliant and capable of optimising waste packaging autonomously and under human control. Our key innovation is to put the sorting and segregating activities on a spectrum of automation to offer the benefits of efficiency alongside that of human intelligence and experience where complex manipulation or decision making is required.
We will be supported by the University of Lincoln providing automation and force guidance technology, Faculty providing the artificial intelligence for waste tracking, packing and physico-chemical characterisation, and Createc, a specialist in radiological detection equipment and characterisation.
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