Game-changing wireless environmental monitoring solutions for Special Nuclear Materials storage

In a significant step towards improving the understanding of the environment inside long-term stores of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM), three innovative projects have secured Game Changers funding for feasibility studies of their wireless environmental monitoring solutions.

These projects aim to find new, efficient methods for the continuous monitoring of SNM package stores, which contain materials resulting from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Sellafield Ltd hopes to install sensors within empty SNM packages that can wirelessly transmit data about the environment within the storage facilities. The challenge lies in developing a solution capable of seamlessly transmitting data from within the cell, through the concrete cell wall, to a receiver at the charge face, and ultimately reaching the control room.

Smart, embedded, wireless environmental sensor with 30-year life - Sensor Driven Ltd 

Bristol-based electronics developer Sensor Driven Ltd has demonstrated a long-life, radiation-tolerant, smart sensor for nuclear material canisters. The sensor is embedded into the steel lid of canisters and wirelessly transmits pressure and temperature measurements out of the storage racks to a computer, where the data is displayed as graphs. Previously developed in collaboration with Sellafield as part of a separate challenge, the system will be modified to include air humidity, salinity and alpha radiation sensors to meet the requirements of store monitoring.

Wireless, long-term environmental monitoring - Sixense Ltd and NUVIA Ltd 

Sixense Ltd, based in Maidstone, is a specialist in the design, installation and management of complex sensor systems and engineering solutions for the construction industry. Their proposed technology is based on experience in developing self-powered, long-term monitoring solutions and secure wireless data transmission in demanding environments. This will be combined with sensor design and implementation support from their sister company, and nuclear technology specialist, NUVIA Ltd. The completed sensors will link wirelessly to a device located at the charge face, which in turn will be connected to a local instance of the company’s bespoke Beyond Monitoring platform for data analytics and alert generation.

BETALOG - Ice Nine Ltd 

Warrington-based Ice Nine Ltd specialises in the design and manufacture of bespoke mobile electronics and robotics. Their BETALOG technology combines innovative, long-term power-generating techniques with mature, low-power electronic components into one environment monitor and data logger that can be left in situ for decades without intervention. On-board electronics will feedback information about temperature, salinity, humidity and alpha dose-rate, which is periodically transmitted using low-frequency and low-power radio transmitters to a node station on the exterior of the SNM stores.

Sellafield's ambitious timeline seeks a proof of concept within 12 to 18 months and a fully deployable solution by 2026.