NUCLEAR
challenging. It typically involves more than simply removing spent fuel and transporting it to safe medium or long-term storage. The structures of the buildings and the infrastructures around them will need dismantling, and those structures themselves may be radioactive; there must be site remediation to prepare it for future use – quite possibly for emerging SMR, AMR and Gigawatt deployments.
Decommissioning poses vast lifting challenges that differ fundamentally from new build construction. There is decontamination and material sorting: Handling systems must sort tons of metallic waste into Low-Level (LLW), Intermediate-Level (ILW) and High-Level (HLW) waste containers with minimal human intervention. Lifting gear must operate within existing, often cramped, containment structures under elevated gamma-radiation fields. Cutting up legacy internal structures, concrete shield walls and contaminated piping produces non-uniform segment geometry with unpredictable mass distribution and uncertain centres of gravity. Sheffield-based SCX is involved in many such
projects. Decommissioning, says the company, increasingly relies on advanced technologies. The reason is simple; human exposure to residual radiation must be kept to absolute minimum. The relevant acronym is ALARA – As Low As Reasonably Achievable. To achieve it, decommissioning contractors are increasingly deploying remote-controlled overhead cranes, semi-autonomous hoists and tele-operated manipulators. Systems feature automated collision avoidance, real-time load cell monitoring and radiation- shielded umbilical or optical controls. As a response to such challenges, Canadian specialists AtkinsRéalis, Sellafield and Igloo Vision have developed an immersive, virtual environment from which to plan and deliver nuclear decommissioning work more safely. Based at the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Collaboration facility in West Cumbria, the initiative brings together remotely operated robotics systems and data visualisation in a single interactive space. Designed to accommodate up to 10 users, the 360-degree visual environment displays imagery from robotic platforms on site, and does so in real time, live as conditions change. It is expected to reduce time spent in hazardous environments by up to 40%, using robotics and live data streaming to enable remote operations and monitoring. Richard Brook, digital solutions lead for nuclear at AtkinsRéalis, said: “Teams can better visualise challenges and work through solutions together before activities begin on site. What’s particularly innovative is the way we’re bringing immersive technology and robotics together in one place. That’s creating new opportunities to reduce risk, improve efficiency and help accelerate the delivery of decommissioning programmes.”
Decommissioning time One of the projects that SCX is working on is decommissioning the Pile Fuel Storage Ponds
www.hoistmagazine.com | November/December 2026 | 27
at Sellafield. They describe it as one of the most challenging decommissioning projects in Europe. It is one of the oldest ponds on the site, dating back 70 years, and is perhaps the most significant clean-up projects there. The pond is 100m long by 25m wide and contains approximately 16,000m3
50t air hoists from Red Rooster accurately positioned this lift.
of water. Used fuel assemblies
were received and stored in it, underwater, to cool for six to 19 months before being transferred to a decanning bay where operators would separate the fuel from its cladding. Today, historic nuclear fuel, debris and sludges from 70 years of operation have to be removed and placed into safe, secure, modern storage. It is the largest open-air radioactive waste pond in the world. It was neither designed nor constructed with decommissioning in mind. Decommissioning has been in progress since 2016, when sludge removal began. All the bulk stocks of fuel and over 300t of other solids have now been taken from the pond; over 76% of the radioactivity has been removed. The larger solid wastes have been dealt with; currently a new dewatering and descaling project is under way.
A 12t pond crane already existed, remaining for the pond’s service days. The new stage of
Virtual reality assists decommissioning.
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