All over Europe, nuclear power is being phased out and on a global scale, more nuclear power reactors have closed than opened in recent years. The decommissioning of these facilities will become a major task in the next decades. Of several hundred nuclear power reactors in operation around the world, more than half have reached or are close to end of their operating lifetime.
Environmental remediation is also necessary for sites that have been in use for similar activities: nuclear research, uranium milling, milling and processing of natural occurring radioactive materials. In such hazardous environments, KUKA robots could be deployed to ensure human workers’ safety.
Solutions for the nuclear decommissioning industry
As one of the world’s leading suppliers of automated production and assembly solutions, KUKA can build on years of experience. We know how to design robotics systems for the nuclear environment that meet the special challenges: being robust, reliable, safe, and also able to withstand a highly radioactive environment. We specialize in a number of different applications for the nuclear decommissioning industry.
Successfully serving the nuclear decommissioning industry
• KUKA automated systems are in use in some of the largest decommissioning facilities around the world.
• The KUKA robots used in nuclear decommissioning are already available on the market. They are most commonly used in foundries and on car production lines. For our nuclear decommissioning solutions, we adapted proven industrial standard technology to suit the unique and often complex challenges of this industry – making us the only off-the-shelf nuclear compliant robotic systems manufacturer.
• Together with industry partners, KUKA is developing nuclear engineering solutions along the complete nuclear fuel cycle, from mining and enrichment to conversion. Our applications have been used in many facilities, sorting low level and intermediate level wastes.
• KUKA Systems UK, is the preferred automated systems supplier to a major nuclear decommissioning engineering, procurement and construction company and is currently involved in many major clean-up projects. Its base in Halesowen is KUKA's global nuclear decommissioning centre of excellence.
Robotic technologies can make the job of cleaning up nuclear sites easier – call us today and find out how.
