Groundbreaking Drone Flights with Radiation Detection Pave the Way for Improved Safety on Nuclear Sites

Groundbreaking Elios 3 Flights at Sellafield Pave Way for Improved Safety on Nuclear Sites

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Drone pilots at UK nuclear site Sellafield Ltd have successfully completed two flight firsts leading to increased employee safety during decommissioning. Flyability’s Elios 3 drone was successfully deployed with a LiDAR sensor, marking a major milestone for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team and achieving peerless efficiency in mapping and 3D modeling. Soon after, the team successfully flew the Elios 3 with a RAD (Radiation Activity Detection) dosimeter, intended to map radiation hotspots in areas prior to entry of unused areas of the site.

“We are thrilled that this first flight of Elios 3 with the LiDAR payload was a success and the data collected is now being processed in a Computer Aided Design system which will produce a 3D model of the area in question, helping to inform engineering decisions going forwards. Sending a drone…