NUCLEAR CLEAN-UP

By Jorn Madslien
Business reporter, BBC News, Sellafield



The National Nuclear Laboratory's Fiona Rayment tours Sellafield's new research centre.

Staring into a dark green crystal ball, nuclear engineer Matt Clough is eyeing the future.


It tells us where the hazards are and how severe they are

Matt Clough, nuclear engineer


Consortium takes charge

"The basic idea is that it's transparent when it's new," he grins, holding it up against the light.

"The darker it is, the more radiation it's absorbed."

Mr Clough is a member of a team of scientists at the recently-established National Nuclear Laboratory, a nuclear technology services provider owned by the state, but run as a private enterprise.

Mr Clough and his team are behind the RadBall, or radiation ball, made from a polymer material that becomes opaque when exposed to radiation.

To nuclear decommissioners, who are working to clean up the mess left behind from half a century of nuclear weapons and energy production, the RadBall could soon become a vital tool.

The RadBall's main advantage is that it is very portable.

"You can use it in hard-to-reach areas in the plant and in areas where electric devices struggle with high radiation levels," Mr Clough explains.

"It tells us where the hazards are and how severe they are."

"We're actually trialling it on plant at Sellafield at the moment, so the technology is being used in the field," says RadBall's inventor, Dr Steven Stanley, who won the young engineer of the year award for his creation.

Nuclear's emergence

High up in a 120m tall building, half the height made up by a fragile-looking chimney, a team of nuclear decommissioning experts are prepared for the worst.

Dressed in PVC suits and wearing breathing apparatus, they work behind a sealed, low-pressurised canvas cover, chipping away at a steel and concrete structure that will eventually be demolished.