The Radiation Tolerance and Development of Robotic Platforms for Nuclear Decommissioning

Abstract

There is an increasing desire to deploy low-cost robotic systems in nuclear decommissioning environments. These environments include long-standing nuclear fuel storage ponds such as those at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, UK as well as areas affected by expulsion of radioactive material from sites such as the Fukushima accident in Japan 2011. An area of concern for the successful deployment of robotic platforms in a radioactive field is their radiation tolerance. It is necessary to understand how the low-cost components used within robotic platforms react to radiation exposure in a nuclear decommissioning environment. This thesis discusses the radiation tolerance of multiple commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components that are commonly used within a robotic platform up to an expected yearly total dose of 5 kGy(Si). It was found that COTS voltage regulators are susceptible to gamma exposure, however, development of a discrete voltage regulator showed an increased tolerance to radiation under certain load and temperature conditions. Inertial measurement units were also investigated and found to be susceptible to a total ionising dose

Date of Award	1 Aug 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Peter Green (Supervisor) & Barry Lennox (Supervisor)