Autonomous distributed control system strategy of rail vehicle for nuclear waste disposal

The long-term storage and disposal of radioactive waste is one of the major problems in nuclear energy. Deep geological disposal is widely agreed to be the best solution for storage of the radioactive waste. It is deposited in these repositories by conventional vehicles with human operator, which is exposed to radiation. For this reason, it is appropriate to develop new vehicles for the transport and storage of spent radioactive fuel that operates autonomously without the presence of an operator. Rail vehicles are most fitting type of transportation of the nuclear waste due high load capacity. The autonomous operation of this vehicles requires high demands on the control system, control strategy and safety. This article presents the design and implementation of distributed control system of rail vehicle for transport and storage of the waste. It includes the control system and strategy for coupling/decoupling and movement of connected vehicles. The control system is implemented in a programmable logic controller, which is widely used in industrial application.