Integrating motion capture in a virtual reality intervention planning platform to study radiation protection measures for the ATLAS inner detector decommissioning

An intervention planning and evaluation platform has been developed to enable dose estimation and personnel training for the ATLAS inner detector decommissioning. The present paper describes the integration of motion capture into the system, including the dose estimation results for the recorded decommissioning steps

Advantages of virtual reality in the teaching and training of radiation protection during interventions in harsh environments

Human interventions in radioactive environments have high stakes. They are often time-sensitive and radiation exposure must be minimised for the safety of personnel. Existing sites were not developed with remote decommissioning in mind, therefore human intervention remains the preferred approach for dexterous manual labour over robotic systems.For ageing sites, knowledge transfer after retirement is an increasingly relevant problem for maintenance and decommissioning tasks, where new workers lack the in-depth “on the ground” experience of the installation.Virtual Reality provides workers the agency to explore an accurate representation of the area, enabling them to gain experience without undue radiation exposure.This paper explores and discusses the teaching and training applications of a Virtual Reality environment with integrated radiation dose maps, and looks at where the system may be developed further

Resilient Machine Learning:Advancement, Barriers, and Opportunities in the Nuclear Industry

The widespread adoption and success of Machine Learning (ML) technologies depend on thorough testing of the resilience and robustness to adversarial attacks. The testing should focus on both the model and the data. It is necessary to build robust and resilient systems to withstand disruptions and remain functional despite the action of adversaries, specifically in the security-sensitive Nuclear Industry (NI), where consequences can be fatal in terms of both human lives and assets. We analyse ML-based research works that have investigated adversaries and defence strategies in the NI . We then present the progress in the adoption of ML techniques, identify use cases where adversaries can threaten the ML-enabled systems, and finally identify the progress on building Resilient Machine Learning (rML) systems entirely focusing on the NI domain

Nuclear Power

The world of the twenty first century is an energy consuming society. Due to increasing population and living standards, each year the world requires more energy and new efficient systems for delivering it. Furthermore, the new systems must be inherently safe and environmentally benign. These realities of today's world are among the reasons that lead to serious interest in deploying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source. Today's nuclear reactors are safe and highly efficient energy systems that offer electricity and a multitude of co-generation energy products ranging from potable water to heat for industrial applications. The goal of the book is to show the current state-of-the-art in the covered technical areas as well as to demonstrate how general engineering principles and methods can be applied to nuclear power systems

Nuclear Power

The world of the twenty first century is an energy consuming society. Due to increasing population and living standards, each year the world requires more energy and new efficient systems for delivering it. Furthermore, the new systems must be inherently safe and environmentally benign. These realities of today's world are among the reasons that lead to serious interest in deploying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source. Today's nuclear reactors are safe and highly efficient energy systems that offer electricity and a multitude of co-generation energy products ranging from potable water to heat for industrial applications. The goal of the book is to show the current state-of-the-art in the covered technical areas as well as to demonstrate how general engineering principles and methods can be applied to nuclear power systems

The Development of a Multi-arm Mobile Robot System for Nuclear Decommissioning Applications.

This PhD thesis is based in the field of robotics and introduces a case study of the design and development of a multi-arm mobile robot system for nuclear decommissioning (MARS-ND). A key premise underlying the research was to develop intelligence in the robot that is similar to the cooperation and communication between the human brain and its two arms; hence the human body was adopted as the starting point to establish the size and functionality of the proposed system. The approach adopted for this research demonstrates the development, integration and configuration of a multi-arm robot system which consists of two human armlike off-the-shelf manipulators whose joints are controlled using potentiometer sensors and hydraulic actuators. Using the manipulators' sensor feedback, a wide variety of complex tasks found in the rapidly expanding field of nuclear decommissioning can be undertaken. The thesis also considers the issue of collaboration, collision detection and collision avoidance between the two arms of MARS-ND. As part of the final stage of this research the author participated in a collaborative research project with the Sugano Laboratory at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. The three major research issues addressed in this thesis are: 1. The selection and integration of off-the-shelf hardware in the development of MARS-ND using the latest technology available for robotic systems 2. The creation of a suitable control system for the robot arms; and the building of an advanced, user-friendly interface between the robot system and the host computer 3. The investigation and implementation of collaboration, coordinated motion control and collision detection & avoidance techniques for the robot arms The hardware and software integration for the whole robotic system is explained with the proposed software architecture and the use of National Instruments (NI) functions and tools to control the movement of the arm joints and the performance of a selected decommissioning task. This thesis also examines the operational software applied within the research through its discussion of four interlinked areas: 1. The control software and hardware interface for the MARS-ND and the controller architecture 2. The application of an NI Compact FieldPoint controller and FieldPoint I/O modules to facilitate wireless communication between the Multi-Arm Mobile Robot system and the user interface in the host PC 3. The use of Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) and LabVIEW software tools for calibration and the building of user interfaces required for sending and receiving the signals needed to control the robot arm joints accurately 4. The application of a PID toolkit in LabVIEW for the design of a simple PID controller for the individual arm joints with a potentiometer sensor fitted inside each joint in order to provide a feedback signal to the controller The thesis concludes that MARS-ND is a good example of a robotic system specifically designed for hazardous nuclear decommissioning applications. It demonstrates the complexity of such a system from a number of aspects such as the need for mobility, control, sensor and system design, and integration using modem tools that are available off-the-shelf. In addition the use of these modern tools allows a single mechatronics engineer to design, integrate, interface and build a motion control system for MARS-ND as compared to the traditional way of building a similar robot by a team of specialised engineers. The contribution this research makes to the design and building of multi-arm robot system for nuclear decommissioning industry concerns its size and mobility using a mobile platform to transport the multi-arm robot system. In addition links have been made between Lancaster University and Waseda University in the context of the development of multi-arm robot systems

An approach for the assessment of safety risks in automated mobile work-machine systems

Needs to improve productivity and cost efficiency are driving the development in industrial sectors using mobile work-machines towards automated work-machine systems and production process control.The shift from manually operated mobile work machines toward automated mobile work-machine systems takes machinery-safety considerations to a new, system safety, level. New safety concerns are associated with automation-related threats and possible unexpected hazardous events. Regardless of the extensive international standardisation efforts in machinery safety, there are not yet safety-engineering or risk-assessment guidelines specific to complex automated mobile work-machine systems.The aim of this study has been to provide new information on how the risk-analysis methods in current use can be utilised for reaching the system-safety objectives and to increase the quality and effectiveness of safety-engineering work. The main goal of this study was a practical approach for system-level safety-risk assessment in automated mobile work-machine systems. Constructive research approach has been applied for the construction of the risk assessment approach. Evaluation of the usefulness of the overall approach and risk analysis methods has been done following the qualitative case-study research methods. The empirical research material consists of four case project documentation, interview results and observations.The result of the study is a new three-level approach for the assessment of safety risks. The results of the study show that the three-level approach to risk assessment is applicable for automated mobile work-machine systems and the selected methods are applicable for system-level hazard identification and risk analysis. The approach and the methods have been adopted in case companies. The developed approach integrates key elements from system safety, machinery safety and industrial safety engineering practices. The case-study research results provide new valuable information and experiences in how the risk-identification and risk-estimation methods were utilised in the case projects in various phases of the system life cycle. The results can be utilised among mobile work-machine manufacturers, system suppliers, end users of the machinery systems, and safety experts.Työkoneita käytetään laajalti eri teollisuudenaloilla ja hyvin erilaisissa teollisissa ympäristöissä. Työn tuottavuutta ja kustannustehokkuutta pyritään parantamaan nostamalla työkoneiden automaatiotasoa ja automatisoimalla työprosessien ohjausta. Muutos manuaalisesti ohjatuista työkoneista kohti automatisoituja työkonejärjestelmiä siirtää koneiden turvallisuustarkastelun uudelle järjestelmäturvallisuustasolle. Turvallisuuden näkökulmasta huolta tässä muutoksessa aiheuttavat erityisesti uudenlaiset automatisointiin liittyvät uhat ja mahdolliset odottamattomat vaaratilanteet. Huolimatta turvallisuussuunnittelun laaja-alaisesta kansainvälisestä standardointityöstä vielä toistaiseksi ei ole käytettävissä turvallisuussuunnittelun tai riskien arvioinnin ohjeita kompleksisia automatisoituja työkonejärjestelmiä varten.Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on ollut tuottaa uutta tietoa siitä, miten riskianalyysimenetelmiä nykymuodossaan tulisi käyttää järjestelmäturvallisuustavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi ja kuinka parantaa turvallisuussuunnittelun laatua ja tehokkuutta. Tutkimuksen keskeinen tavoite oli käytännöllinen järjestelmätason lähestymistapa automatisoitujen työkonejärjestelmien turvallisuusriskien arviointiin. Tutkimustyö on edennyt konstruktiivisen tutkimusotteen mukaisesti. Riskin arvioinnin lähestymistavan ja valittujen riskianalyysimenetelmien käyttökelpoisuutta on evaluoitu kvalitatiivisen tapaustutkimuksen menetelmin. Empiirinen tutkimusaineisto koostuu neljän case-projektin dokumentaatiosta, haastatteluista ja havainnoista.Tutkimuksen tuloksena syntyi uusi kolmitasoinen lähestymistapa turvallisuusriskien arviointiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että kolmitasoinen lähestymistapa soveltuu käytettäväksi automatisoitujen työkonejärjestelmien turvallisuusriskin arviointiin ja valitut menetelmät soveltuvat järjestelmätason vaaratekijöiden tunnistamiseen ja niiden analysointiin. Lähestymistapa ja menetelmät on otettu käyttöön soveltuvin osin case-yrityksissä. Kehitetty lähestymistapa yhdistää keskeisiä elementtejä järjestelmäturvallisuuden, koneturvallisuuden ja työturvallisuuden käytännöistä. Case-tutkimusten tulokset antavat uutta arvokasta tietoa siitä, kuinka riskin tunnistamisen ja arvioinnin menetelmiä käytettiin case-projekteissa kohdejärjestelmien eri elinkaaren vaiheissa. Tuloksia voivat hyödyntää liikkuvien työkoneiden valmistajat, järjestelmätoimittajat, konejärjestelmien loppukäyttäjät ja järjestelmäturvallisuuden asiantuntijat