The Excavator Mounted Bucket Assay System (EMBASSY) is designed to assay and determine the radiological contents of an excavator bucket. Using EMBASSY, Studsvik can detect, assay and segregate radionuclide contaminants found in soil, gravel or rubble thereby minimizing the waste generated from remediation of the site and saving disposal costs.
EMBASSY is designed to perform measurements that directly allow the determination of whether the bucket contents are In-Scope or Out-of-Scope of radioactive materials regulations. This process will reduce the time taken to remediate a site, which in turn will save project costs and allow you to meet programme timescales. The benefit of using EMBASSY is that material handling is greatly reduced as uncontaminated soil or rubble may be returned directly to the source or excavation site and no further handling is required. This minimizes the risks to the workforce and, by combining characterization with the excavation, will save time and costs.
Studsvik’s EMBASSY is controlled and operated by a measurement technician who remains outside of the radius of the danger zone associated with the operation of the excavator. This ensures a safe operating environment and minimizes the risks at the workface. The technician controls EMBASSY via a ruggedized tablet computer, which communicates with the system via a wireless link. The measurement results inform the technician as to the sentencing of the bucket contents. The technician instructs the excavator operator in the appropriate disposition of the bucket contents.
The benefits of using EMBASSY
- Robust real time sentencing decisions that will ensure compliance with transport and disposal regulations
- Site clearance projects will be optimized by allowing real time decisions to be made. This speeds up the sentencing programme and can support project acceleration
- Project acceleration will in turn save the cost of extended site attendance and minimize site based overheads such as equipment hire
- Doses received by the workforce can be minimized by preventing double handling of the waste
- Enables back-fill excavations during the process Instant determination of whether material is In-scope or Out of Scope of radioactive waste regulations
- Removes the requirement for an extensive sampling campaign – time and cost and coverage (confidence in the sampling regime)
- 100% of material assayed giving full confidence in sentencing as Studsvik have a proven track record in providing assay solutions
