The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group has launched project Auto-SAS to deploy technology at a nuclear site to remotely and autonomously sort and segregate radioactive waste. The NDA has committed to invest up to £9.5m ($13m) over four years in the project, which is a collaboration with Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS), Sellafield and Nuclear Waste Services (NWS).
It will be delivered jointly by AtkinsRéalis and Createc, working in partnership as ARCTEC to combine their joint experience and track record of developing automated systems and robotics in nuclear. Auto-SAS will be deployed on the NRS Oldbury site in South Gloucestershire initially and will be used to separate low level waste from intermediate level waste which has been retrieved from the vaults on site – created when the power station was operational.
The project is being undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 runs from June 2025 to August 2027 and will deliver a fully operational system in an inactive environment. Phase 2 will deliver an active demonstration of the system at Oldbury.
“This is a hugely exciting project for us, using robotics to autonomously sort and categorise waste and has the potential to save hundreds of millions of pounds in waste storage and disposal costs.” said Melanie Brownridge, NDA Chief R&D Officer. “It’s a great example of collaboration across the NDA group and supply chain to develop transformative solutions to decommissioning challenges which enable us to deliver our mission safely and efficiently.
She added: “Our ambition is to use what we learn here to benefit multiple sites in the NDA group and potentially beyond. Manual segregation of radioactive waste is complex and hazardous due to the nature of the material, so caution is exercised and where waste is mixed it’s currently all categorised as Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) or Plutonium Contaminated Material (PCM) rather than being sorted by type or radioactivity. Using robotics provides the ability to use technology to more accurately categorise the waste, avoiding using more costly waste routes when they aren’t required, while also removing people from hazardous environments and giving them the opportunity to develop new skills.”
Andrew Forrest, NRS Chief Technical Officer, said the ARCTEC system will use a combination of sensors to categorise the waste before robotic manipulators grasp and consign waste items to the most appropriate waste route. Robert Marwood, Head of Robotics & Technology for AtkinsRéalis said on behalf of ARCTEC: “This is an ambitious project with the potential to automate a time-consuming process and develop a scalable system that segregates hazardous materials safely and efficiently…. The ambition is to transfer learning to support future deployments at other NDA group sites, for example Sellafield.”
According to Rav Chunilal, Sellafield Ltd’s Head of Robotics & Artificial Intelligence, Sellafield has experienced first-hand how robotics and autonomous systems can revolutionise nuclear operations. “Auto-SAS builds on that momentum, protecting our people and unlocking new levels of precision and efficiency in waste categorisation. And it has great potential to set a new standard for waste management across the NDA group.”
Gareth Garrs, NWS Head of Waste Inventory & Compliance said: “With the increased deployment of these types of innovative technologies, NWS brings unique expertise in the management of radioactive waste which will ensure we deliver the significant benefits in terms of safety and efficiency.
In 2024, Createc was awarded a £3m contract from Sellafield Ltd for the provision, integration, and maintenance of a Quadruped Robotic Inspection Platform. The contract, which runs from July 2024 to July 2026, will see Createc apply its expertise in robotics to support Sellafield’s inspection needs.
