Last week a team from the University of Bristol were presented with the award for Robotics and Drones Innovation at the ISOP Innovation Awards hosted in Vienna by the IAEA.
The International Network on Innovation to Support Operating Nuclear Power Plants (ISOP) awards are designed to recognise examples of deployed innovation unique in the nuclear power industrial sector and that deliver unique impact.
Jarred Minards, who attended along with Prof Tom Scott, received the award for work carried out during his PhD project: Robotically deployed in reactor in-situ stand-off Raman Spectroscopy for Graphite characterisation. The work involved developing robotics for deploying stand-off Raman spectroscopy inside a graphite fuel channel which resulted in a world first deployment of Raman inside of a nuclear reactor.
The work was supported by Nuclear Restoration Services; Jarred was able to visit Trawsfynydd and deploy the robot probe in a reactor (Clifton Photonics supplied the Raman probe) following a successful deployment at the National Composite Centre as a non-active demonstrator. NRS then worked on the safety case and the Trawsfynydd team were able to support a deployment window.
An important part of the safety case was having a non-active demonstration of the robotic system. the NNUF-Hot Robotics Facility supplied a robot platform called the Scout 2.0 and provided funds for building a reactor core mock-up at NCC. The Scout 2.0 and the graphite core mock-up are shown here. Jarred then networked this to be controllable over Robot Operating System and work with his developed robotic system.
Support also came from the University of Bristol from Prof Tom Scott and Chris Hutson. Professor Scott shared that the late Professor Peter Flewitt wasn't so sure the work could be done!
"Peter asserted that the project was far too ambitious and that Jarred should focus on less, stating that the project would “take a Team of engineers 10 years to do what you’re proposing” - and Jarred did in under 4, with just himself and the support from me, Dr Chris Hutson the innovation team at NRS and the NNUF Hot Robotics facility".
Jarred said: "Advances in hardware and open source software continue to expand the scope and capabilities of robotics development. My PhD project shows what is now achievable by a single researcher; with a change in mindset focusing on innovation the nuclear industry can use these capabilities to significantly reduce costs of plant operation and decommissioning".
Congratulations to Jarred and the team on this innovation award, we can wait to see what you go on to achieve next!