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The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) team at Sellafield in Cumbria first flew the Elios 3 drone equipped with a Lidar sensor. They then flew the drone with a radiation activity detection (RAD) dosimeter, which they hope will allow them to map radiation hotspots before workers go into unused parts of the site.
The Lidar data is now being processed in a CAD system, which will produce a 3D model of the area and help to inform engineering decisions.
“Sending a drone into this tight and unused space rather than an employee in the first instance reduces risk, and also saves time and money,” said Amanda Smith, UAV equipment programme lead, based at Sellafield Ltd’s Engineering Centre of Excellence in Cleator Moor.
“The pilot encountered obstacles we weren't expecting. The access into the area was also tighter than expected. He had to adapt to the changing circumstances incredibly quickly, as he only had eight minutes of battery power to get into the area, map it with the equipment, and get out again.
“We always have two pilots on every flight, as even though it is a short flight the levels of concentration required by the pilot are extremely high.”
Sam Jay, UAV equipment engineer and chief pilot, said: “The flights can be very intense, and in this case there was pipework everywhere. The drones fly in a cage with sensors so if they do happen to touch anything they won’t be damaged.”
He added: “Now that we have scanned the area, the engineers can design scaffolding before they go to unblock a pipe which has been causing an issue.”
The radiation monitoring flights aim to identify potential hotspots in areas where exposure levels are unknown.
Tom Calverley, a radiometric physicist, said: “Our acceptable levels of exposure are well below what the regulators say is safe. What we hope the drones will do is pinpoint any changes in dose readings within an area. If there are significant changes, we can then explore why that might be.”
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