Automation and remote control of operational processes in the disposal of radioactive waste

Project Dates: January 2026 – December 2027

Project Status: Kick off in January 2026

Website: N/A

During the operation of a geological disposal facility, the handling of canisters with nuclear waste will be among the highest risks regarding possible exposure to nuclear radiation. To reduce this exposure the presence of people near the canisters during the emplacement or possible retrieval processes should be kept at a minimum. Due to the dangers of underground mining, it is also desirable to use as few personnel as possible in the underground storage facility. This can be achieved by autonomous and remote controlled machines. However, currently there are no known standard, off-the-shelf solutions for the automation or remote control of machines for the application in geological disposal facilities. For this reason, this IGD-TP activity will carry out an analysis of solutions that have already been developed or are being developed internationally and collate these within a database.

The intention is to build up a database covering remote control and automation solutions along the entire process chain of a Deep Geological Repository (DGR). These solutions can be either at concept phase or be readily available items. In this course, the project will design a generic structure of a DGR from the receipt of waste to its closure, in order to remain open to individual designs by the WMOs. As the level of development for engineering varies significantly among WMOs, the idea is to identify general requirements on automation and remote-control functions collectively for each technical process. Such reference allows an expert to benchmark a potential solution whether crucial aspects are met. The individual technical solutions, however, shall still be developed by each WMO individually. Descriptions on available (concepts of) machines or systems shall finally be fed into the database, to make already existing knowledge available to the community.

At this, the database shall:

• remain generic when it comes to DGR designs, since the definition of suitable designs depends primarily on the local (geological) situation instead of available technology.
• highlight requirements and constraints which are associated with each technical process in respect to remote control and/or automation.
• cover solutions tackling the handling of low to medium as well as high activity radioactive waste, as many sites represent combined DGRs for both kind of residuals.
• describe in detail technical as well as regulatory aspects for getting automation solutions in place, while still allowing key expertise to remain within the source of origin.
• Listing the results and experience of technologies in operation, as well as the remaining challenges.