Innovative facilities in the nuclear research sector

Initial situation

Our customer wanted to renew and modernise its innovative installation for the inspection of radioactive waste from the dismantling of nuclear power plants.

This inspection is carried out using two test stations:

• Neutron measurement: the station measures the number of neutrons producing spontaneous fission in the storage cask.
• Gamma measurement: the station carries out non-destructive radiological characterisation using high-resolution probes of the HPGe type.

The drums are transported to the stations by a set of conveyors. A semi-automatic overhead crane is used to load and unload the drums.

Proposed solutions

Our teams replaced the obsolete computer hardware and PLCs. We also created the program for the routing of the drums from a storage area to a conveyor line, as well as the program for the management of the conveyor part to the test stations, and the acceptance part.
We have also developed a supervision under AVEVA (Wonderware) System Platform and InTouch OMI.
The inter-automate communication and the communication with the test stations were set up, as well as the addition of Motion axes.

Benefits for the customer

Following the project, the customer benefits from better management of the traceability of the measurement data as well as a better performance of the installation.

Some pictures of the realisation

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