UK Startup Puts AI at the Center of Radioactive Waste Management

Despite stringent regulations, Radioactive Waste Management (radwaste disposal) remains one of the most hazardous activities in the modern atomic energy industries. Radwaste management not only endangers the life of workers at the nuclear sites but also poses a grave biological and physical danger to life forms and resources in the vicinity of a nuclear plant or storage facility. Currently, over a quarter-million tonnes of radioactive waste has piled upon the earth’s surface due to rampant weaponization and nuclear energy operations around the world. Cost-wise, it takes approximately $300,000 USD to manage a radwaste facility in an operational nuclear plant, and more than $8 million for a closed facility. According to a study, it is much costlier to reprocess spent fuel (~$600 USD per kilogram) as compared to direct disposal. A UK-based AI firm has come up with a solid solution to manage radwaste disposal and storage.

UK AI firm, Faculty, has partnered with Veolia Nuclear Solutions to build a radioactive waste-sorting solution as part of Innovate UK’s 7.5 Million USD [£5.5 million] Sort & Seg competition. Using AI and machine learning applications, radioactive waste management is set to be sorted quickly and managed more safely through a research and development program between government and industry.

Faculty is one of Europe’s leading applied artificial intelligence companies that builds, deploys, and operates AI solutions to increase customers’ performance and help them realize their full potential in diverse business operations. It is currently working with more than 230 organizations across the public and private sectors, enabling them to use AI ethically by helping these users understand more deeply, make better decisions and act faster. By bringing AI to the center of radioactive waste management, Faculty AI could completely eliminate the risks commonly associated with the handling of fission elements and decayed elements, post-atomic energy cycle.

Funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the Innovate UK ‘Sort & Seg’’ competition seeks safer, faster, and cheaper ways of handling nuclear-decommissioning waste, which can pose a risk to humans and the environment if not managed correctly.

The competition has tasked participants with creating an automated solution capable of identifying, classifying, and sorting intermediate and low-level waste with minimal human input.

Veolia Nuclear Solutions, in partnership with AI firm Faculty, as well as Createc, Mott MacDonald, and the University of Lincoln, are solving the logistical and economic challenges of sorting and segregating low and intermediate radioactive waste generated from decommissioning activities.

The consortium is one of five that has progressed through to the second phase of the competition.

Faculty brings machine learning and AI expertise to provide directions to the project’s robotic arm and gripper, which will identify, sort, and categorize waste with minimal human input.

Whilst the amount of radioactive waste in the UK is relatively small, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has previously estimated around 5 million tonnes could be produced over the next century – enough to fill Wembley stadium.

Much of this is set to come from dismantling existing legacy nuclear facilities, such as Sizewell A and Wylfa, and by cleaning up other existing sites. Currently, some waste still requires manual sorting by staff wearing PPE.

The competition aims to accurately sort bulk, lower-level radioactive waste requiring disposal, whilst increasing overall recycling rates.

The winning solution will also improve worker safety, increase productivity, reduce costs, and minimize risks to the environment through increasing recycling rather than disposal.

Demonstrations to NDA and Innovate UK will take place in November 2022. Successful models could then progress to trials and subsequent use at decommissioning sites, with the potential to be exported internationally.

The system could also be adapted in other future waste disposal and object sorting systems, beyond the radioactive waste sector.

Veolia Nuclear Solutions in the UK is a world-leading provider of remote handling and waste management solutions for extremely hostile environments, with proven technology and a track record of providing innovative solutions in key sectors including nuclear fusion, nuclear decommissioning, health and high-energy physics. As part of the Veolia Group, this offers access to a network of experts and technologies.