nuclear-news

UK invention to clean-up Fukushima – The Radball

An invention created in Lancashire is to be used in the clean-up of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The ‘Radball’, developed at the National Nuclear Laboratory’s (NNL) site at Salwick, near Preston, will be used to pinpoint contamination hot spots at the scene of the disaster following a tsunami strike in 2011.

It can analyse the extent and location of radiation contamination within confined spaces and will be used to map levels in the former reactors.

NNL managing director Paul Howarth said: “The cleanup of the Fukushima site is one of the major challenges facing the global nuclear industry at present, and I’m delighted that this technology is to be part of the solution to that challenge.”

He said it would be working alongside the Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy and Fukushima site owner TEPCO on the project.

The boss added: “We are looking to getting a better understand the details of the site and to help them to evaluate the capabilities of RadBall.”

The technology is a tennis ball-sized piece of special plastic covered in a lead coating with holes drilled in it which changes colour when it comes into contact with radiation.

The information from it can then be fed into a computer which creates a map of the area it has checked to show people where the radiation is.

It is the brainchild of Dr Steve Stanley, who is based at the NNL’s lab site at Salwick, which is shares with nuclear fuel manufacturer, Springfields Fuels.

Speaking in 2008, then-NNL managing director Peter Bleasdale told the Lancashire Evening Post producing saleable technologies like the Radball would be key to the lab’s future.

He said: “We have some of the best people in the world in our specialist areas which for Preston is advanced reactor design

May 16, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized