---
title: "New Robots Can Safely Decommission Nuclear Reactors"
description: "A semi-autonomous robot can go in and dismantle decommissioned nuclear reactors, handling some of the tricker tasks on its own."
date: "2019-06-14"
modified: "2019-06-14"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robots-safely-decommission-nuclear-reactors"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "Nuclear Energy"
  - "robots"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Robots Can Safely Decommission Nuclear Reactors

![A semi-autonomous robot can go in and dismantle decommissioned nuclear reactors, handling some of the tricker tasks on its own.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/robots-safely-decommission-nuclear-reactors.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Lancaster University/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Going In

A new semi-autonomous robot is capable of traveling into a decommissioned nuclear reactor and safely dismantling it, piece by piece.

Typically, the robots that handle nuclear waste, like the one sent into the [Fukushima reactor](<https://futurism.com/robot-nuclear-hellscape-fukushima-reactor>) after it was destroyed by a tsunami, need to be remote-controlled every step of the way. This new robot, [described in research](<https://www.mdpi.com/2218-6581/8/2/42>) published in the journal *Robotics*, can handle some things on its own — like detecting, grabbing, and cutting apart objects in its video feed.

## Robotic Assist

"The standard within nuclear decommissioning is for direct human-controlled remote tele-operation of robots, which is extremely difficult for the operators particularly given the complexity of nuclear decommissioning tasks," James Taylor, the Lancaster University engineer behind the robot, said in a [press release](<https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/developing-semi-automatic-nuclear-decommissioning-robots>). "Fully autonomous solutions are unlikely to be deemed safe in the near future and so we have explored creating a semi-autonomous solution that sits between the two."

Other [semi-autonomous robots](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/centaur-like-robot-disaster-relief>) designed to mitigate nuclear disasters can navigate on their own — this new one can automatically dismantle some of the obstacles in its path. For instance, a human operator can instruct the robot to pick up a pipe and cut it into pieces with four clicks of their mouse, per the press release.

"Tests show that operators using this system successfully outperform operators using the current joystick-based standard," Taylor said. "It keeps the user in control of the overall robot but significantly reduces user workload and operation time."

**READ MORE:** [Semi-autonomous robots to make decommissioning nuclear reactors faster and safer](<https://newatlas.com/lancaster-university-semi-autonomous-robot-reactors/60123/>) \[*New Atlas*\]

**More on robots:** *[Japan Sends Robot Into the Nuclear Hell of the Fukushima Reactor](<https://futurism.com/robot-nuclear-hellscape-fukushima-reactor>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)