How do you decommission a nuclear installation? Call in the robots

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative project to safely cleanup and decommission a major nuclear facility. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is to design and apply robotic technology to custom designed robots that can address specific needs in safely removing major structures and cleaning and decontaminating areas of a nuclear processing plant. Findings – The paper finds that frequently, robots are the answer but commercially available units may not be the suitable solution so designing custom robotics may be the best answer. Practical implications – Firms considering approaches to handling hazardous cleanup conditions can look to the experience in Scotland for designing robotic answers for special needs handling applications. Originality/value – This may be the first major hazardous site to design and employ custom robotic techniques to handle most cleanup tasks.