The US Office of Environmental Management and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) have agreed to collaborate further to develop and apply robotics to nuclear decommissioning tasks.

An Office of Environmental Management statement said the two organisations have signed a new statement of intent providing a framework for the exchange of information and personnel on remote handling and robotic systems in managing radioactive waste, nuclear materials and cleanup of nuclear installations.

Dr Rob Buckingham, director of the UK Centre for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (Race) in Oxfordshire signed the agreement on behalf of the UKAEA. The UKAEA hosts Race, which recently built a facility to develop and demonstrate aspects of remote systems, including inspection, maintenance and decommissioning. The statement of intent gives the Office of Environmental Management access to the Race facility to demonstrate remote system capabilities. The UKAEA carries out fusion research in the UK on behalf of the government and manages the Joint European Torus (Jet) fusion project on behalf of the European Union.