Chernobyl Uni experts map radiation in failed Reactor 4 control room
BRISTOL researchers have carried out pioneering radiation mapping research inside parts of the damaged Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Experts from the University of Bristol worked with Ukrainian engineers at the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
The University of Bristol team was given unique access to the now infamous control room of Reactor 4 where they deployed specially developed radiation mapping and scanning sensors.
These were also deployed inside the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the protective structure erected to cover the remains of the failed reactor and the original sarcophagus, which was hastily constructed in the aftermath of the accident.
The deployment, funded by the EPSRC-funded Robotics and AI in Nuclear (RAIN) research consortium, was the team’s fourth visit to Chernobyl and follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in early 2021 between the University of Bristol and the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP), Ukraine National Academy of Science.
The aim of this visit, a joint initiative between Bristol and the ISPNPP, was to further explore the value of autonomous and semi-autonomous radiation mapping systems in high-radiation environments.
By deploying these systems in the Exclusion Zone and at the ChNPP, researchers were able to better define the location and amount of residual radiological hazards.
This time, the team demonstrated several robotic systems, fitted with ground-breaking sensing equipment developed between the universities of Bristol and Oxford as part of the RAIN project.
The aim of each system was to collect highly accurate 3D models of the facility, coincident with radiation data, to accurately define the distribution and severity of the radiological risks.
The deployment was a significant milestone for both the Bristol and ISPNPP teams, whose aim is to develop new technology for decreasing risk associated with decommissioning nuclear facilities. The high-end 3D visualisations achieved by the team’s mapping technology will aid the Ukrainian Government’s dismantling project and the decommissioning of the power station.
This deployment coincides with the site gaining licensing permissions to begin remote dismantling of the sarcophagus, followed by retrievals and packaging of the vast volumes of reactor core debris.
It is expected that during the decommissioning radioactivity levels and distributions will change on a very regular basis, necessitating a suite of rapid, robotically deployed, scanning technologies that can quickly define how the hazard is changing – all to keep workers safe.
Lead researcher Professor Tom Scott, from the University of Bristol and co-director of RAIN, said it was an exceptionally challenging but successful exercise and that the results would prove invaluable to the safe dismantlement of the reactor, and would also inform decommissioning programmes here in the UK.
“To actually venture inside the control room of the failed reactor was a tense and yet exhilarating experience,” he said.
“The team did a fantastic job of deploying our systems quickly and in challenging conditions.
“It’s a huge reward after months of hard work to know our technology performs well in real nuclear environments.
“This high-profile deployment was the culmination of several years of hard development work as part of the RAIN project. We’re so pleased to have successfully demonstrated a capability that is both useful for Chernobyl decommissioning but also for legacy nuclear sites in the UK and elsewhere in the world.
“We are now entering a phase of decommissioning here in the UK, at Sellafield and Magnox, therefore we are developing new sensing systems, robotic solutions and special types of detectors because that technology is needed now.
“Robots can make nuclear decommissioning faster, cheaper and more importantly, safer. We would only be able to develop this technology with the guidance and information from our Ukrainian partners.”