Robotic arm retrofitted to old glovebox at Sellafield

Friday, 25 July 2025

In a world first, a robotic arm has been retrofitted and operated inside an active nuclear glovebox at Sellafield in the UK, helping to remove the risk to operators and promising to make decades-old gloveboxes safer to dispose of.

A key challenge at Sellafield is how to safely clean up and dispose of hundreds of redundant nuclear gloveboxes built up over 60 years of pioneering nuclear work, and which can be in difficult-to-access places. Some still house contaminated pipework, cables, or sharp objects, and present a hazard to workers and the environment.

The Risk Reduction of Glovebox Operations (RrOBO) project – a partnership between Sellafield Ltd and AtkinsRéalis, in collaboration with Cavendish Nuclear and Taylor Kightley Engineering – has now proved that a robotic arm can be safely retrofitted to a nuclear glovebox.

At its heart is the AtkinsRéalis Remote Glovebox Operations (ARGO) system – a robotic arm and manipulator platform – that can be inserted into an existing glovebox and controlled remotely and safely by operators. ARGO enables remote, precise, and safe glovebox activities, removing operators from direct contact with hazardous materials.

_{The ARGO system (Image: AtkinsRéalis)}

After months of design work and off-site testing, the system was deployed into two gloveboxes at Sellafield’s MOX Active Demonstration Facility. While engineers operated the robotic system, operators provided critical interface support and feedback, ensuring learning was maximised to inform future developments.

As a result, they proved the robot could successfully carry out a complex series of precise glovebox tasks while maintaining full containment integrity. This means it can now be deployed on other legacy gloveboxes at Sellafield to expand its range of uses and help accelerate decommissioning work across the site and other Nuclear Decommissioning Authority group sites.

“RrOBO has delivered outstanding results, completing months ahead of schedule and significantly under budget,” said Nicholas Clarke, Sellafield Ltd’s remediation technology and innovation lead. “It demonstrates the viability of robotic glovebox operations and shows what we can achieve when we enable our teams to collaborate, think freely and innovate together.

“And we’ve gained valuable insight into how this technology can be scaled up to support the wider Sellafield mission and help other nuclear sites across the UK and globally.”

Robert Marwood, AtkinsRéalis’ head of robotics and technology, added: “This collaboration is a great demonstration of how solutions from other industries can be integrated into the nuclear sector in a lean and agile manner. By driving innovation, we can make nuclear operations safer and more efficient.”