01/22/2021 2 Minutes Read
Britain and Japan have signed a research and technology deployment collaboration to develop new robotics and automation techniques for nuclear decommissioning and fusion energy production in both Japan and the UK. The UK-Japan alliance is called LongOps, a robotics project to support the delivery of faster and safer decommissioning at TEPCO’s Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors in Japan and at Sellafield in the UK, using long-reach robotic arms. UKAEA’s Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) facility will lead the project, design strategy, and deliver new robotic capabilities with global potential.
The decommissioning of legacy nuclear facilities and fusion facilities are complex large-scale projects that are time-intensive to accomplish safely. The UK-Japan alliance will help leverage Robotics and Digital Twin technologies in carrying them out efficiently with no risk to human health. A major feature of the LongOps program will be the deployment of sophisticated Digital Twin technology – virtual models where the pairing of the virtual and physical worlds allows for highly detailed analysis of data, and the forecasting of potential maintenance and operational issues.