Non-Contact Laser Inspection of 500L Nuclear Waste Drums

Project Description and Services Provided

Amentum delivered a proof-of-concept laser profiling system to monitor structural changes in 500L Magnox waste drums in Sellafield's Encapsulated Product Stores. The solution provides a non-contact, radiation-tolerant method for measuring drum geometry over time within the constraints of the drum inspection facility. Scope included deployment design, mechanical and electrical design, sensor integration, automated data processing, browser-based visualisation, system integration, validation and live demonstration.

Challenges

Sellafield required a system capable of dimensioning drums to +/-0.5 mm without physical contact, added markers or direct sensor exposure to radiation. The solution also had to fit a congested inspection facility, operate between 15 ̊C and 40 ̊C, cope with off-centre drum placement, variable turntable speed and possible tilt, and support high inspection throughput. Amentum also had to resolve mount rigidity issues and delays in accessing a representative test drum during development.

Solutions and Outcome

Amentum developed a compact two-laser inspection system using mirrors to shield commercial off-the-shelf profilers from direct radiation exposure, a rigid modular mount with micro-adjustment, and an encoder-triggered capture method that records data every 0.2 mm of rotation. Bespoke software automatically reads drum IDs, stitches and corrects scan data, and presents results through a browser-based interface with grayscale, 3D pointcloud and slice-by-slice comparison views. The project advanced from TRL 4 to TRL 6, demonstrated full-scale proof-of-concept deployment on a rotating 500L drum, achieved typical repeatability of +/-0.6 mm in representative conditions, and captured 51 million data points in about 3 minutes. The system captures 51 million grayscale and distance data points in about 3 minutes, supporting rapid drum throughput. This allows operators to quantify deformity growth over time rather than rely on visual judgement alone.

Future Work

Amentum has Identified a pathway to site deployment, including system hardening, enhanced robustness and an initial on-site trial.

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