Seabed Particle Recovery...

Fathoms , the Somerset and Caithness based sub-sea services company, has completed yet another radioactive particle recovery programme in hostile waters at Dounreay off the north coast of Scotland. What’s more, Fathoms completed the task on time and achieved a greater success rate than its client specified.

Initially (in 2007) Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) commissioned a special trial, asking potential suppliers to come up with a remote-controlled system that would detect and recover radioactive particles from the seabed.

For this trial, Fathoms adapted its already well-proven tracked seabed crawler, the TROLTM. The original Fathoms designed and manufactured TROLTM had previously proved to be highly effective at detecting and mapping particles. These are usually buried under the seabed and the TROLTM was significantly more effective than divers (as previously used).

Now Fathoms’ upgraded TROLTM has succeeded not only in detecting the radioactive particles; but also in recovering them from beneath the seabed during these trials. It was the only system that proved capable of fulfilling these requirements reliably.

As a result, Fathoms was awarded a new one-year contract in 2008 to prove that this concept was commercially viable. And after this successful 2008 season, Fathoms has been awarded another one-year contract in 2009 to continue this work.

DSRL imposed strict parameters on Fathoms, setting out specified recovery rates of radioactive particles. Fathoms not only met these requirements. It exceeded them. The new upgraded TROLTM system can even recover radioactive particles that are buried to a depth of 50cm, and numerous particles were recovered from this depth. What’s more, all operations are continuously recorded on video; so the depth of recovery is noted and a record is kept for posterity.

Fathoms’ next generation TROLTM – a new small, tracked, seabed crawler - is even more effective and builds on the operational successes of the original system. This means that its ability to locate and recover radioactive particles from on (and beneath) the seabed is even more cost effective. What’s more, TROLTM can be adapted to undertake a variety of other tasks on the seabed; such as monitoring, sampling and recovery.

These are the benefits of TROLTM, Fathoms’ small and remote-controlled tracked seabed crawler. It is a unique and proven piece of equipment that can operate equally effectively in shallow or deeper waters.