The South West Nuclear Hub has been shortlisted for a The Engineer Collaborate to Innovate Award, and will attend a ceremony next week in London.
The Hub enters in the Academic Innovator category, which is awarded to a university department that demonstrates a sustained culture of innovation and collaboration with academic and business partners.
Hub members the University of the West of England (UWE) have also been shortlisted in this category, featuring the University of Bristol and UWE joint venture the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
Collaborative Projects Recognised
As part of the submission, the Hub highlighted three projects that demonstrates its ability to pull together industrial and academic partners to find novel solutions to industrial challenges. The three projects were:
1. Exploring Radioactive Environments with Pipeline Devices
A number of prototype devices were designed that allow for the remote characterisation, mapping and exploration of pipe networks whilst conducting gamma-ray spectroscopy.
2. Diamond Detectors for Dose Rate Measurements in Highly Active Environments
The miniature diamond detector system allows real-time dose rate measurements to be made remotely from inside difficult to access areas, creating maps of radioactivity in hazardous facilities which have small access ports and complex networks of pipes and vessels. This device was deployed on a live site at Sellafield.
3. Seismic qualification of graphite
The University of Bristol constructed a quarter-sized Advanced Gas-cooled Reaction (AGR) physical model in collaboration with EDF Energy and Atkins, to understand the seismic structural integrity effects of anticipated progressive cracking of the thousands of hollow graphite bricks that make up the AGR core structure.
Academic Innovator Shortlist
The other shortlisted applications in this category are:
The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME)
Coventry University, Faculty of Engineering and Computing with Unipart Manufacturing Group.
SHEAR Group
School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow with British Antarctic Survey, Dnipro National University, Clyde Space.
Robotic Innovation and Support for SMEs
Bristol Robotic Laboratory Technology Solutions (BTS) with The University of the West of England, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Numatic International, Reach Robotics, Walk to Beat, Architectural Association, KS Lettershop.
More information
The Engineer: Collaborate to Innovate Awards
The Engineer magazine covers the latest engineering news, technology, business and innovation news, analysis and insight.
This annual award ceremony aims to celebrate the best examples of innovative, technology-led collaboration, from the biggest and boldest infrastructure projects to the most fundamental technology breakthroughs, effective collaboration is the lifeblood of engineering innovation and the annual Awards and Conference celebrate the most effective partnerships.