ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | VEOLIA NUCLEAR SOLUTIONS
Making the complex simple:
How evolving technology is driving change across the hazardous waste industry
AI and human-machine teaming is increasingly driving change across the hazardous waste industry. By Simon Delavalle, Chief Technical Officer, Veolia Nuclear Solutions, UK
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY IS CONTINUING TO change how we live our lives. From people accessing their smart phones an average of 150 times a day to order groceries and control their finances, to advances in augmented reality and the metaverse, technology is redefining our lives and jobs every day. The hazardous waste industry is no different, and rapid
advances in technology and innovative new solutions are reshaping how firms and their service providers are thinking about even the most complex nuclear waste challenges they face. Increasingly, the question is not if technology should be deployed in a specific circumstance; rather, it’s how can the latest technology be utilised to increase efficiency, reduce the lifetime costs associated with addressing a particular waste challenge, and increase worker safety? The ongoing cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant site is a great example of how constantly evolving technology is driving significant change in the way operators are thinking about significant hazardous waste projects. Specifically, an ongoing challenge has been to investigate the Primary Containment Vessel at Fukushima reactor number 2 so that damaged fuel and other debris can eventually be removed. The challenges are immense: the environment is highly contaminated, doesn’t permit human access, and is hard to navigate. To tackle this challenge Veolia Nuclear Solutions called
Above: Dexter™ in the robotic boom enclosure 18 | February 2022 |
www.neimagazine.com
on its technology expertise to design a unique and complex robotic system that could be stored in a restrictive volume, deployed through a long and narrow aperture and navigate the unknown obstructed environment of the stricken nuclear reactor. Designing the robot was just one part of the complex problem they faced. Even in a test situation, such a system
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