Immersive room could cut hazardous nuclear work time by up to 40%

Engineers can explore a digital site before work begins on the real one. At the Raico1 facility in West Cumbria, AtkinsRéalis, Sellafield Ltd and Igloo Vision have built a 360-degree immersive environment that brings nuclear decommissioning routes and operational scenarios into a shared room. The partners expect it to reduce time spent in hazardous environments by up to 40%.

The mechanism is deliberately practical. Remotely operated robots send live imagery from the site, while the room displays digital versions of facilities and changing conditions. Engineers, operators and project teams can walk a route virtually, examine what the robots see and test an approach before work begins on site. The space is designed for up to 10 users at once.

That makes the room less like a showroom than a rehearsal space. Multidisciplinary teams can plan together, compare ways of working and respond to emerging issues without immediately placing people in a restricted area. Richard Brook, AtkinsRéalis’ digital solutions lead for nuclear, said the combination gives experts a different way to engage with information before making critical decisions.

The project sits within Sellafield Ltd’s broader effort to combine robotics, artificial intelligence, modelling and advanced visualisation in decommissioning. Rav Chunilal, the company’s head of robotics and artificial intelligence, said the facility builds on work developed over the past few years in robotics, digital twins and remote operations. The Raico1 environment also follows AtkinsRéalis’ Lava Lab network and Sellafield’s immersive facility at Hinton House in Risley, Cheshire.

And so what, concretely? Teams working around complex nuclear facilities can rehearse a job, see live conditions and coordinate their decisions before sending people into the hazardous area. That could mean fewer hours spent there. But the 40% figure is an expectation from the project partners, not a measured result presented here, and the technology remains a planning and rehearsal capability rather than evidence of fully remote decommissioning.