Asset management trial success

A tracking and tagging system that could help Sellafield manage and monitor assets has been successfully demonstrated following a Game Changers’ funded feasibility project.

An inactive trial and demonstration of the GordAlex and System Loco’s asset management tagging solution at Sellafield’s Leconfield facility in Cumbria was attended by key Sellafield stakeholders.

GordAlex and System Loco have refined data gathering tools LocoTrack and LocoTag, which provide location and sensing data. LocoTag technology is a small, easy to install, lightweight barcode which can be fixed to a range of assets. LocoTags can report their presence or absence in relation to a LocoTrack receiver and provide temperature and humidity alerts as well as other measurements.

The tags have a battery life of five years for proximity, location and environmental sensing in normal use. The system could have a wide range of asset management applications for Sellafield with a number of opportunities having been identified across the site.

The Game Changers’ demonstration showed the system’s potential to monitor movement of soft bagged waste. Currently, the movement of such waste relies on a manual process to confirm the presence of all expected bags. The successful trial showed how the System Loco and GordAlex tagging and tracking system could transform the manual waste tracking system to a fully automatic process with multiple bags of soft waste tracked securely and accurately from point of origin through to final disposal position.

Following the successful trial, a Proof of Concept project is being considered, which could include an active demonstration in a live scenario.