Visit to the University of Bristol

04.02.202212.02.2023 admin

Scientists of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants of the NAS of Ukraine visited the University of Bristol (Great Britain) on January 24-28, 2022. Besides the ISP NPP scientists, the delegation included specialists of the SSE ChNPP and State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management.

The aim of the visit was to consider results of researches conducted by the ISP NPP scientists, Chornobyl NPP staff and University of Bristol at the Chornobyl NPP site in previous years. The effectiveness of application of dosimetric and robot equipment in conditions of the Shelter object for operational evaluation of radiation conditions was considered.

Ukrainian specialists conducted number of presentations related to the scientific and industrial problem, which is urgent for further transformation of the Shelter object.

The issues of NPP decommissioning, in particular irradiated graphite treatment, were discussed with specialists of Sellafield and Magnox. It was noted that Ukraine and Great Britain have many common challenges related to the nuclear heritage, and possible cooperation in these directions can be useful for both countries.

Problems of modern development of the power engineering were discussed with participation of the representative of the Embassy of Great Britain in Ukraine. Part of attention was paid to the issues of development of small modular nuclear power plants and hydrogen energy. It is the development of systems of such type that can give impetus to the development of NPP sites, which are under decommissioning.

To familiarize with scientific potential in the field of robotics and development of nuclear technologies, the delegation visited a number of leading scientific centers of Great Britain. In particular, participants of delegation visited scientific research centers South West Nuclear Hub (https://southwestnuclearhub.ac.uk) and Interface Analysis Centre (IAC) (https://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/research/materials/iac), as well as National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF) (https://www.nnuf.ac.uk).

Robotics used for development of technologies of operational mapping of radiation conditions at radioactively contaminated areas, as well as manipulator for decontamination of equipment and containers for RAW

Familiarization with perspective developments of manipulating robots to conduct radioactively hazardous works

Tom Scott and Maksym Saveliev are familiarizing with application of robotics for high-precision inspection and laser decontamination of container for RAW

In the Facility for Hot Robotics (NNUF-HR), members of the delegation were familiarized with latest developments on application of robotics in the field of characterization of radioactive materials. Technologies with application of robotics for sorting of materials according to their physical and chemical properties were shown.

Serhii Paskevych and Maksym Saveliev were in the delegation from the ISP NPP. They made presentations on the ISP NPP activity at the ChNPP site and offered possible directions for common scientific researches.

S. Paskevych reports on experience of the ISP NPP works at the ChNPP site and Shelter object