ROBOTICS | RADWASTE MANAGEMENT
Frank Querfurth
Automation & Software Engineer, Robotics Team of the I&C Business Unit at Framatome
Carsten Demel
Team & Project Lead, Robotics Team of the I&C Business Unit at Framatome
Innovative robotics for radwaste management
A robotic-assisted handling system is being developed in the Virero project to categorise and sort radioactive waste components. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. By Frank Querfurth and Carsten Demel
Contributors: Andreas Havenith and Christopher Helmes (AiNT) and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Franke and Sebastian Reitelshöfer (FAPS)
AS REACTORS REACH THE END of their lives, it is critical to optimise their nuclear waste streams to manage limited space in repositories. Framatome’s Virtual Remote Robotics (Virero) team
is testing advanced robotics that will allow waste professionals to categorise and sort waste using augmented virtuality, machine learning and intelligent automation. This project is in partnership with the Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems (FAPS) of the Friedrich- Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), and Aachen Institute for Nuclear Training GmbH (AiNT). A case study for its use is the disposal of negligible-heat-
generating waste in Germany. Under the Nuclear Waste Management Act of the Reorganization of Responsibility, German energy companies operating nuclear power plants are authorised and obliged to send this type of residual material to repository facilities under the condition that the waste is properly packaged. However, the Konrad repository, where this waste will ultimately be located, is still under construction. BGZ Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung GmbH is charged with interim storage of the waste until the permanent repository is complete.
During this interim period, storage is at a premium. As a
result, volume optimisation of the incoming waste is critical. Virero addresses this challenge.
Virero: meeting industry needs The Virero (Virtual Remote Robotics for Radiometric Sorting) project uses teleoperated disassembly and re-sorting of radioactive waste from low to high local dose rate values (LDR values) to optimise waste volume. Conventional systems available today are not flexible enough to adapt to a variety of different operating conditions and are not explicitly designed for use in a nuclear environment. They face challenges for in breaking up and dividing packaged waste. The highly individual characteristics of the various parts pose more challenges. The system reduces the waste volume by disassembling
and re-sorting radioactive waste material for different dose- rate levels. The radiological characterisation is followed by spatial activity reconstruction and this generates basic information for the waste treatment. Waste with high dose rates can be identified and separated. The analysed radioactive waste can be semi-automatically sorted and U
www.neimagazine.com | February 2022 | 45
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