The Adoption of Novel Technology in Nuclear Decommissioning

Abstract

This PhD thesis examines the perceived barriers to technological adoption at the Sellafield nuclear facility in West Cumbria. Having been in operation for over sixty years the site is now in the process of being decommissioned, a process expected to take over a century and cost well in excess of 100 billion GBP. As well as being extremely costly and time-consuming this work is also considered highly complex and potentially hazardous. The organisations responsible for the site and its decommissioning are increasingly looking at the deployment of novel technological solutions, such as robotics, to assist in this process. This study employs data derived from ethnographic interviews and participant observation conducted over approximately fourteen months among the network of stakeholders involved with developing and deploying new technologies at Sellafield. Early evidence revealed it to be a location where technological adoption was believed to be especially problematic and difficult to accomplish. Various endemic technical and organisational ‘barriers’ have been postulated as responsible for these difficulties and attempts within the organisation to tackle these barriers are perceived to have achieved only limited success. To examine this issue the study employs an inductive approach with which to formulate an alternative problematisation of Sellafield, mobilising the concept of the 'standard grid' as outlined by James C. Scott as a lens with which to view the organisation. Comparative studies of the processes surrounding technological adoption are viewed through this lens to develop a novel paradigm for analysing the challenges pertaining to innovation at Sellafield, including a consideration of the ontological constraints this system places on the technical objects with which it interacts. Multiple cases demonstrating adoption successes and failures are explored in order to build an understanding of how 'technology-in-practice' interacts with the demands of the grid leading to varying technological outcomes. Reflecting on the proposition that the site can be 'hostile to change', this study considers the simplifying mechanisms of the grid as a delimiting factor for developing effective solutions to the 'wicked problems' of technological adoption at the Sellafield site.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Penelope Harvey (Supervisor) & Barry Lennox (Supervisor)