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
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
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on using robotics and radiation mapping technology to remove nuclear workers from hazardous environments during decommissioning activities.
-
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
Why might this be relevant?
The project addresses the challenges of interpreting robot-derived information in cluttered spaces contaminated with dispersed radioactivity, but does not fully answer the question regarding new technologies to move humans away from harm during decommissioning activities.