US Hanford Nuclear Waste Contractor First Uses Drones to Inspect Facility Roofs

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 3, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management announced progress in drone inspections of roofs at the Hanford nuclear facility in Washington State. Nuclear waste treatment and closure contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) used drones for facility condition inspections under its responsibility for the first time, conducting a roof inspection of the deactivated 242-S Evaporator and collecting image data of building surfaces, vents, exhaust stacks, and potential leakage pathways.

The inspection was initiated by H2C, with Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) providing drone operational support. HMIS operates the Hanford Site drone program, and its subcontractor Altitude Agri Services dispatched certified drone pilots to carry out the flight missions. H2C's engineering and innovation team provided real-time on-site guidance for image collection and determined the inspection scope of roof structures and related equipment.

The drones conducted imaging inspections of the 242-S Evaporator roof surface, ventilation facilities, exhaust stacks, and leakage pathways that could affect nuclear material containment. The inspection task is part of routine condition assessments of deactivated nuclear facilities, using drones instead of workers climbing to conduct inspections, thereby reducing the need for on-site work at heights.

HMIS has already used drones for inspection tasks at other Hanford Site facilities. Its photogrammetric system typically uses 2,000 to 5,000 photographs to generate 3D models, supporting structural dimension measurement and facility condition assessment. The company also conducts LiDAR mapping to obtain terrain and building structure boundary data.

The Hanford Site drone program was launched in 2022, initially developed and tested by HMIS. Drones have previously been used for roof inspections of decommissioned nuclear facilities such as the B Reactor. The newly added application milestone is H2C's first use of this technology to perform condition inspection tasks at facilities under its responsibility.