Zeiner-Gundersen publishes another peer-reviewed paper

Joi Scientific proudly announces the latest publication of a research white paper by our Lead Physicist Sindre Zeiner-Gundersen, titled Physics-Informed Autonomy and Wasteform Engineering for Decommissioning Legacy Fission Reactor Plants. The paper, Sindre’s 96th publication, introduces a new integrated approach to tackling the most challenging aspects of nuclear decommissioning through advanced sensing, robotics, and uncertainty-aware waste management methodologies. 

Legacy nuclear reactor facilities present complex technical and safety challenges. Traditional decommissioning approaches rely heavily on manual operations in high-radiation environments, where incomplete knowledge of as-built conditions and unknown contamination pathways can amplify both worker dose and project uncertainty. Zeiner-Gundersen’s white paper reframes decommissioning as a closed-loop estimation and control problem, enabling data-driven decision making across all stages of dismantlement and waste handling. 

Key Innovations and Contributions:

• Uncertainty-Aware Characterization: The paper outlines multi-modal in-situ sensing techniques — including directional gamma imaging, spectroscopy, and muon tomography — fused with 3D perception to more accurately locate radiological hazards and infer hidden activation inventories. 
• Probabilistic Digital Twins: A Bayesian inverse transport framework quantifies uncertainty and supports a probabilistic radiological digital twin that enhances predictive modeling and actionable insights throughout project execution. 
• Risk-Informed Planning: Multi-objective planning optimizes for dose reduction, time efficiency, cost control, minimized waste volume, and containment of contamination spread. 
• Coordinated Autonomous Robotics: The white paper proposes coordinated multi-robot workcells for characterize-then-act operations, enabling safer, more efficient robotic execution of characterization, segmentation, and decontamination tasks. 
• Advanced Wasteform Engineering: Materials engineering strategies for secondary-waste minimization and verifiable waste conditioning are integrated with non-destructive package quality assurance methods, supporting regulatory compliance and long-term stewardship goals. 

The white paper charts a staged roadmap from bench tests to hot demonstrations, emphasizing reproducibility, quantified risk, and auditability — essential elements for stakeholders in government, industry, and research institutions invested in sustainable nuclear decommissioning solutions.