Canada’s nuclear refurbishment programs are among the most complex infrastructure projects in the world. From reactor component replacement to inspection, maintenance, and waste handling, ATS partners with utilities to automate critical processes, improve execution, and reduce project risk. Our integrated engineering, automation, and digital capabilities help create safer, more predictable refurbishment projects that stay on schedule and deliver long-term value.
Top Challenges
Nuclear refurbishment projects demand precise execution under strict regulatory requirements and compressed outage schedules. ATS helps utilities overcome these challenges with automation solutions that improve productivity, repeatability, and project certainty.
Critical Path & Schedule Certainty
Refurbishment outages leave little room for delays, making every activity on the critical path essential to project success. Automation helps standardize execution, reduce variability, and keep work progressing according to plan.
Reactor Component Replacement
Replacing reactor components requires highly coordinated, precision-driven operations in challenging environments. Automated tooling and specialized systems help accelerate removal and installation while improving consistency and quality.
Workforce & Human Performance
Complex refurbishment activities rely on experienced personnel, but skilled resources are increasingly limited. Digital training, automation, and standardized processes help improve workforce readiness while reducing the potential for human error.
Dose Reduction & Personnel Safety
Many refurbishment activities occur in radiological environments where minimizing personnel exposure is a key objective. Remote tooling, robotics, and automated systems help reduce operator dose while enabling work to be completed efficiently.
Process Consistency & Quality
Repeatable processes are essential for maintaining quality and meeting demanding project schedules. Automation helps create standardized workflows that improve performance, reduce rework, and deliver predictable project outcomes.
Inspection & Verification
Ensuring every component is installed and operating correctly is critical to long-term plant reliability. Automated inspection and digital verification technologies improve accuracy while providing traceable documentation for quality assurance.
Our Solutions
ATS delivers integrated automation, tooling, and digital solutions that support every phase of a refurbishment outage—from planning and preparation through execution and verification.
Automated Reactor Component Replacement Systems
Automate complex reactor component removal and installation activities using purpose-built tooling and robotic systems that improve precision, reduce outage duration, and enhance worker safety.
Volume Reduction Equipment
Reduce the size of radioactive waste safely and efficiently with specialized segmentation and volume reduction systems designed to optimize handling, transportation, and disposal.
Automated Material Handling
Improve the movement of tools, components, and waste using automated guided vehicles (AGVs), transport systems, packaging automation, and custom material handling solutions that reduce manual intervention and improve workflow efficiency.
Automated Installation & Inspection
Improve quality and consistency with automated installation, inspection, and verification technologies that reduce variability while providing reliable data throughout the refurbishment process.
Digital Training & Work Instructions
Prepare personnel before work begins using immersive digital training environments that improve task familiarity, standardize procedures, and build confidence prior to field deployment. Leverage digital work instructions to perform maintenance or troubleshoot right where and when the work is happening.
Key Benefits
Automation helps utilities complete refurbishment projects more safely, efficiently, and predictably while improving quality and reducing overall project risk.
Accelerated Project Delivery
Using simultaneous engineering, early collaboration, and proven automation methodologies, ATS helps shorten critical path activities and improve schedule certainty throughout the outage.
More Effective Processes
Digital solutions such as digital twin and simulations validate processes before deployment, reducing uncertainty and creating reliable, repeatable execution in the field.
Comprehensive Testing
Factory acceptance testing, integrated system testing, and performance validation ensure tooling and automation systems perform as expected before arriving on site.
Reduced Project Risk
By validating designs, training personnel, and verifying processes in advance, ATS helps minimize unforeseen issues during outage execution and improve project predictability.
Improved Safety
Automation reduces manual intervention during complex activities, lowering radiation exposure while helping improve process consistency and overall personnel safety.
Actionable Operational Insights
Connected systems capture valuable performance data that helps optimize maintenance, improve decision-making, and continuously enhance future refurbishment projects.
Connect With Our Nuclear Automation Experts
Partner with ATS to develop automation solutions that improve project certainty, accelerate deployment, and enable the future of clean energy.