Immersive training innovation arrives at Sellafield with StellarX demonstration

Sellafield’s Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) portfolio, as part of its digital transformation strategy, is investigating methods to simplify and enhance training and engineering walkdowns using novel technologies such as VR/AR. Technologies of this type, including platforms such as StellarX, have strong potential to help operators rehearse key tasks in a risk-free digital twin before live execution. Members of the SNM team and other Sellafield stakeholders recently joined OVA Inc at Sellafield’s Engineering Centre of Excellence for a demonstration of StellarX, OVA’s AI-powered VR/MR platform.

The demonstration formed part of an ongoing Game Changers proof-of-concept project designed to test the potential of immersive training in high-hazard environments, improving operator readiness while reducing reliance on costly and risky physical training environments. The session introduced the StellarX platform and its application for complex operational training scenarios. The event brought together operational stakeholders, technical specialists, and training leads to explore how AI-enhanced VR can transform preparedness for a range of safety-critical tasks.

Addressing the Challenge of High-Risk Training Environments

Training for high-hazard operational tasks presents a consistent challenge across the nuclear industry. Whether dealing with glovebox operations or other controlled environments, organisations must balance the need for realism with strict safety requirements. Physical mock-ups are expensive to build and maintain, and even controlled settings can introduce unnecessary risk exposure during rehearsal of complex procedures.

As Chris Ballard, Senior Technical Manager at Sellafield, noted during the session, “It’s the application of VR that’s being done differently here. So for us this is absolute cutting edge technology, something that we need to bring in.” His comment reflected a broader organisational desire to modernise training approaches across a variety of technical and hazardous tasks.

The aim of the project was therefore to assess whether immersive VR could provide a safe, repeatable, and scalable method of preparing operators for complex operations across multiple domains, while maintaining procedural accuracy and confidence.

Building a Flexible Digital Training Environment

OVA’s platform, StellarX, was deployed to create realistic virtual training environments tailored to Sellafield’s operational requirements. The VR platform further enables creators to make immersive experiences with intuitive no-code tools, enabling training teams to build and modify scenarios without specialist programming skills.

This flexibility was central to the design approach. As OVA explained during development, “VR has a clear role to play in high-risk training environments, particularly where safety, procedural accuracy, and confidence are critical. It allows learners to practise complex procedures in a realistic but controlled environment before entering operational settings.”

The platform also supports guided interactive training and collaborative learning, allowing users to experience procedural workflows in structured yet adaptable environments. According to OVA, “immersive training can help modernise technical training by making it more engaging, repeatable, and accessible – learners experience real procedures rather than only reading about potential ones.”

Demonstration at the Engineering Centre of Excellence

The live demonstration combined a structured presentation with hands-on VR experience. Sellafield introduced the session before OVA walked attendees through the StellarX platform, highlighting scenario creation tools and demonstrating how training environments can be adapted quickly using no-code functionality across different operational use cases.

Attendees then used VR headsets to experience a simulated glovebox training scenario directly, while others observed the training flow on display screens. This dual setup allowed the wider group to assess user interaction, procedural realism, and training effectiveness in real time across multiple perspectives.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. As Paul Nichol, Director of SNM Portfolio at Sellafield Ltd, observed, “This technology brings to life the factory of the future. I’m so encouraged by what I’ve seen.”

Outcomes and Validation from Stakeholders

The project’s success was underpinned by close engagement with plant glovebox and training subject matter experts, whose input ensured that the virtual environments accurately reflected real procedures and constraints across the selected scenarios. Their involvement helped validate both the technical fidelity and practical relevance of the simulations.

The live demonstration at Sellafield’s Engineering Centre of Excellence proved pivotal in demonstrating value to stakeholders and end users. Observers were able to see not only the realism of the environment but also how quickly users adapted to the interface and training tasks, reinforcing confidence in its broader applicability.

Benefits for Sellafield and the Wider Nuclear Sector

The project highlighted a unique opportunity to visualise a facility that is not yet built or in operation, giving a new potential tool to enable pre-visualisation and operational process simulation across the portfolio for new and existing facilities. Immersive VR training enables safer rehearsal of hazardous tasks, reduces exposure to operational risk, and improves operator confidence before live execution. These benefits extend across multiple types of high-consequence procedures, not limited to any single operational area.

It also supports more efficient refinement of procedures, allowing teams to test and iterate training scenarios in a digital environment before deployment in real-world settings.

The no-code nature of StellarX further enhances its value by reducing reliance on specialist developers and enabling faster updates to training content. This creates potential for more responsive and continuously improving training systems across diverse operational environments.

Scaling Impact and Future Direction

The collaboration highlighted the value of structured innovation pathways. OVA noted that “without the Game Changers programme, we would have had a much harder time demonstrating the value we could bring to Sellafield,” adding that support from FIS360 helped “create the right conditions for a productive project by supporting introductions, facilitating meetings, and structuring the path forward.”

Looking ahead, the project has opened pathways for broader adoption of immersive training across Sellafield operations and potentially wider nuclear industry applications. Future work will explore how such technology can be scaled with additional scenarios, expanded across teams and sites, and integrated into longer-term digital training strategies.