A key challenge at Sellafield is how to safely clean up and dispose of hundreds of redundant nuclear gloveboxes built up over decades of pioneering nuclear work.

Some are up to 60 years old and in difficult to access places. They can still house contaminated pipework, cables, or sharp objects, and present a hazard to workers and the environment.

But a breakthrough demonstration project at the site has proven that a robotic arm can be safely retrofitted to a nuclear glovebox and help remove the risk to operators.

The Risk Reduction of Glovebox Operations (RrOBO) project is a partnership between Sellafield Ltd and AtkinsRéalis, in collaboration with Cavendish Nuclear and Taylor Kightley Engineering.

It’s what’s known as an Active Demonstrator Project, where Sellafield Ltd identifies key clean up challenges and then collaborates with suppliers to design, test, install and demonstrate potential technological solutions.

At its heart is the AtkinsRéalis Remote Glovebox Operations (ARGO) system that can be inserted into an existing glovebox and controlled remotely and safely by operators.

After months of design work and off-site testing, the system was deployed into 2 gloveboxes at Sellafield’s MOX Active Demonstration Facility.

While engineers operated the robotic system, operators provided critical interface support and feedback, ensuring learning was maximized to inform future developments.

As a result, they proved the robot could successfully carry out a complex series of precise glovebox tasks while maintaining full containment integrity.

This means it can now be deployed on other legacy gloveboxes at Sellafield to expand its range of uses and help accelerate decommissioning work across the site and other Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group sites.

Nicholas Clarke, Sellafield Ltd’s remediation technology and innovation lead said:

RrOBO has delivered outstanding results, completing months ahead of schedule and significantly under budget.

It demonstrates the viability of robotic glovebox operations and shows what we can achieve when we enable our teams to collaborate, think freely and innovate together.

And we’ve gained valuable insight into how this technology can be scaled up to support the wider Sellafield mission and help other nuclear sites across the UK and globally.

Robert Marwood, AtkinsRéalis’ head of robotics and technology, said:

Removing hands from gloveboxes is a key challenge for the nuclear industry and we’re proud to be helping to drive change and improve safety.

This collaboration is a great demonstration of how solutions from other industries can be integrated into the nuclear sector in a lean and agile manner.

By driving innovation, we can make nuclear operations safer and more efficient.

Kate Canning, head of research and development at the NDA, said:

RrOBO is a fantastic example of using robotic technologies to reduce risks, eliminate manual handling hazards and enhance efficiency.

The demonstrator project has shown the real potential of the technology to be transferred more widely across NDA group.