£3 million Dragon’s Den style competition shortlists ideas to clean up old nuclear plants
15 ideas have been shortlisted in a £3 million competition to find new ways of cleaning up one of the UK’s largest nuclear hazards.
Cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robots, drones and lasers are being proposed as ways of cleaning up Sellafield in Cumbria - Europe’s most complex nuclear site.
The shortlisted entries, many of which come from companies that have never worked in the nuclear industry before, now have around 3 months to develop their ideas for a chance to move on to the next stage. They’ll start fleshing out their concepts on how to safely dismantle a large number of highly radioactive rooms or ‘cells’ at Europe’s most complex nuclear site, Sellafield in Cumbria.
Melanie Brownridge, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Head of Technology, said:
This competition is an amazing opportunity for creative, forward-thinking and innovative companies to collaborate and come up with cutting-edge solutions for cleaning up some of the UK’s most complex nuclear sites.
The competition, which is being run by the NDA, and the UK government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, is awarding an initial £750,000 to a shortlist of 15 newly formed consortia to help them develop their ideas. Full details remain under commercial wraps but more will be revealed when the winners are picked at the end of the year and begin to build prototypes, supported by the remaining funds.
Shortlisted entries
| Lead contractor | Project title |
|---|---|
| A.N. Technology Ltd | A Flexible Measurement and Waste Led, Robotics-Based Decommissioning Project |
| Amec Foster Wheeler | Integrated Innovation for Nuclear Decommissioning |
| Barrnon Ltd | Barrnon Integrated Decommissioning System |
| Cavendish Nuclear Ltd | Sellafield In-Cell Decommissioning System (SIDS) |
| Costain Oil, Gas and Process Ltd | Stabilisation, Excavation and Segregation |
| Createc | Elephants to Ants: Innovation in Integration |
| Davy Markham Limited | Integrated & Transferable Decommissioning Toolkit |
| Eadon Consulting Limited | Versatile Decommissioning System (VDS) |
| James Fisher Nuclear Limited | Hot Hatch Cell Recovery |
| MDA Space & Robotics Ltd | DecomSmart |
| Nuvia Limited | Nu-Decom |
| Oliver Crispin Robotics Ltd | LaserSnake++ |
| Rovtech Solutions Ltd | Integrated Keyhole Remote Decommissioning System |
| University of the West of England | Integrated robotic system for characterisation and decommissioning |
| Westinghouse Electric Company UK Limited | Integrated Innovation for Nuclear Decommissioning |
Over the next few years several major plants at Sellafield will come to the end of their operational life, such as the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) and Magnox Reprocessing Plants, which are used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel from power stations across the UK and the rest of the world.
This will mark the start of an important decommissioning challenge to deal with a number of highly radioactive ‘cells’ containing a complex network of contaminated pipes, vessels and several miles of steelwork. The competition set out to find and fund technology that will clean up the ‘cells’ as safely, quickly and cost-effectively as possible whilst minimising risks to the workforce.
The winning technologies will need to find ways of safely accessing the cells, surveying the contents, cleaning them out and putting the radioactive waste into packages for safe storage. The proposals feature the use of leading-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robots, drones, lasers and specialised remote sensors and detectors.
Although initially focused on Sellafield, the winning ideas could be used to clean up the other nuclear sites owned by the NDA, which date back to the earliest days of the UK nuclear industry.
Melanie added:
The NDA is continually seeking the best ways to encourage new ideas from the supply chain and ensure everyone has an opportunity to get involved. The response we have had to this competition has been fantastic. We’ve been really impressed by the standard of proposals and the healthy numbers of applicants.
I’m also extremely encouraged by the high level of interest from organisations outside the nuclear sector, offering highly innovative solutions from industries such as the oil and gas sector, defence industries and even space exploration.
Derek Allen, Innovation Lead at Innovate UK, said:
We are delighted to be working again with the NDA as they continue to support innovation to deliver their programme.
We are looking forward to seeing the integration and demonstration of some of these technologies that will ultimately lead to safer, faster, cheaper nuclear decommissioning. This has the potential to open up significant business opportunities for UK organisations both nationally and globally.