Health, Safety, Environment and Wellbeing

Background

There are international and national guidelines and regulations, which are designed to protect the health of workers by restricting occupational exposure to ionising radiation. We are interested in radiation epidemiology and radiobiology studies which look to understand whether these guidelines and regulations remain valid for workers involved in our nuclear decommissioning mission.

We recognise that whilst our decommissioning is carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, there are still some risks. We are therefore interested in new technologies and techniques that move humans away from harm (NDA Grand Challenge 3), both radiological and conventional hazards, whilst allowing decommissioning activities to be carried on. This can be autonomous systems such as, robotics or remotely operated systems.

We are interested in research that would reduce the NDA group’s impact on the environment. This includes both lifecycle analysis as well as technologies and techniques that reduce our CO2 emissions, energy usage, other discharges to the environment and impact on flora and fauna around our sites.

Next steps

Get in touch with research@nda.gov.uk

Related UKRI funded projects

  • Radiation, radioactivity and your local environment

    Radiation and radioactivity are a mystery at the centre of nuclear physics ever since the creation of this field of physics. It is one of the fields of science where breathtaking discoveries and leaps of creativity unloc...

    Funded by: STFC

    Lead research organisation: University of Glasgow

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on raising awareness on radiation and radioactivity, but does not address new technologies for decommissioning.

  • Automated Nuclear Decontamination Cell (AND-C)

    Public description In many nuclear decommissioning facilities, a decontamination cell is used to process transport containers on site so that they can be sentenced to low level waste. A dedicated cell can also be used fo...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: CREATEC LTD

    Why might this be relevant?

    Fully relevant as it proposes an automated system for nuclear decontamination to reduce human exposure to hazards.

  • Partnership for european research in radiation protection and detection of ionising radiation : towards a safer use and improved protection of the environment and human health.

    The ambition of the PIANOFORTE Partnership is to improve radiological protection of members of the public, patients, workers and environment in all exposure scenarios and provide solutions and recommendations for optimis...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: UK HEALTH SECURITY AGENCY

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on improving radiological protection and detection of ionising radiation, which is relevant to the question about occupational exposure in nuclear decommissioning.

  • Advancing Location Accuracy via Collimated Nuclear Assay for Decommissioning Robotic Applications (ALACANDRA)

    Radioactivity is all around us but it is usually dispersed such that it poses little risk to human health. However, past industrial activities associated with nuclear weapons production, the manufacture of fuel for nucle...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: Lancaster University

  • SIMAN V & V

    Led by i3D Robotics, a UK SME, this project builds on the previous SIMAN (Smart IMAging for Nuclear) proof of concept demonstrator which aims to produce a novel system for glovebox and nuclear robotic operations capable ...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: I3D ROBOTICS LTD

  • Autonomous Aerial Radiation Monitoring Systems

    Hazardous nuclear events have the potential to cause huge levels of widespread damage to individuals and the environment. Getting close enough to these incidents to accurately assess the problem can be extremely dangerou...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: IMITEC

  • Maximising and measuring impact from the RATE programme

    This fellowship will communicate the scientific outputs from the Radioactivity in the Environment (RATE) programme to relevant stakeholders facilitated by focussed outputs of RATE information. This will be achieved by fo...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: University of Stirling

  • Radiation protection of the environment: providing knowledge and skills to the user community

    Protection of the environment from ionising radiation has only been actively addressed in the UK and internationally over the last decade. Internationally, there had been an increasing recognition of the inadequacy of th...

    Funded by: NERC

    Lead research organisation: NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019)

  • Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Nuclear (RAIN)

    The nuclear industry has some of the most extreme environments in the world, with radiation levels and other hazards frequently restricting human access to facilities. Even when human entry is possible, the risks can be ...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: University of Manchester

  • National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR)

    Nuclear facilities require a wide variety of robotics capabilities, engendering a variety of extreme RAI challenges. NCNR brings together a diverse consortium of experts in robotics, AI, sensors, radiation and resilient ...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: University of Birmingham