WASTE MANAGEMENT | SIZE REDUCTION
Cutting waste down to size
Size reduction remains a major waste management challenge for nuclear
decommissioning. Robotics is already playing a role to address the challenges, but could robotics solutions ultimately transform the future of size reduction?
By Salvador Pacheco-Gutiérrez, Head of Technology, RAICo
Robotic size reduction solutions such as the Skip Size Reduction Facility (SSRF) active demonstrator are already installed at Sellafield. Source: AtkinsRealis.
THE NUCLEAR DECOMMISSIONING Authority (NDA) estimates that the UK’s total radioactive waste inventory could fill a volume roughly the size of Wembley Stadium. Managing this quantity of waste safely and efficiently is one of the biggest challenges in nuclear decommissioning. A critical part of that challenge is size reduction, whereby
contaminated reactors, equipment, pipes, sections of buildings and beyond are cut down into smaller, manageable pieces. Effective size reduction makes waste easier to package into drums or other containers for transportation and storage. It also ensures valuable capacity within long- term radioactive waste facilities—and ultimately geological disposal such as the planned Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) in the UK—is used as efficiently as possible. Breaking large components into smaller, manageable, sections can also facilitate more accurate characterisation, segregation and decontamination, enabling materials to be directed to appropriate reuse, recycling, treatment, storage or disposal routes. Clean materials can be separated from
contaminated ones while radioactive waste can be classified according to its risk level, from low-level (LLW) to high-level waste (HLW), ensuring it is treated and stored appropriately. This reduces disposal costs and environmental impact, as well as helps protect workers and the public. As the world increasingly places nuclear power at the heart of industrial strategy, developing efficient approaches to size reduction will become even more important as future decommissioning volumes increase. However, reducing the size of contaminated materials is
far from straightforward. Today’s processes rely heavily on skilled operators working in hazardous environments often requiring heavy personal protective equipment (PPE) and even pressurised breathing air suits (PBAS) for extended periods whilst using handheld power tools. Even with extensive safety controls, workers face conventional and radiological risks, including the risk of contamination, manual handling injuries, vibration exposure, working at height and the potential for protective suit breaches.
Robotic size reduction solutions Reliance on human operators—and the stringent health and safety procedures required for sending people into hazardous environments—means the work can be slow and labour intensive. Further complexity comes from waste products created during decommissioning processes such as radioactive dust, which must then be contained and collected for onward management. These challenges make size reduction an ideal job for
Nuclear gloveboxes at the Sellafield site. Source: Sellafield.
42 | October 2026 |
www.neimagazine.com
robotics, which could remove people from harm’s way and drive significant efficiency and time savings across nuclear decommissioning.
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