Publications Details
A miniaturized sensor system for in situ robotic characterization of hazardous waste
This paper describes current research and development on miniaturized sensing systems for use during in situ characterization of nuclear waste storage tanks, buried waste sites, and decommissioned production facilities. Each miniaturized sensor system will consist of a suite of chemical, radiological, and physical properties sensors integrated into a compact package which will be mounted on the end of a robotic arm and/or vehicle. While the specific size of this remote sensor head and the types of sensors included will depend on site needs, the supporting generic computing system may be used for other waste characterization applications. This computing system will contain all necessary hardware and software to acquire, combine, interpret, display, and archive a wide range of sensor data. This paper describes the present status of the project, the lessons learned from the first prototype, and planned future designs of the next generation system. 7 refs.