Nuclear Robotics: Proof of Concept for Localization of Contamination and a Protocol for Decontamination Driven by Robot

Development of nuclear technology for clean energy and scientific research presents increasing challenge for radiation protection. At the same time, development of robotic technology and new materials presents an opportunity to solve many of the problems by using robots in all situations where the risk for the operator, whether it is caused by not knowing the potential level of exposure, or where the exposure would be prohibitively high, can be reduced or completely avoided. In this paper, proof of concept for a robot, constructed for in situ localization of the contamination and consequent decontamination and a protocol for its operation, is presented. A real robot with a localization capability was constructed and its performance tested in a simulated contamination event. The idea for the upgrade of the robot adding a decontamination capability is presented also.