United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was incorporated as a statutory body in 1954 and pioneered the development of nuclear energy in the UK. They are now responsible for managing the decommissioning of their nuclear reactors and other radioactive facilities developed for the UK's nuclear research and development programme in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.
Market Sector:
Nuclear Decommissioning
Application:
Collecting Industrial Plant Data
The Problem:
The UKAEA site at Dounreay in the north of Scotland wanted to trial a more efficient way of recording plant data than manual paper recording. Some of the data was later typed into PC's for trend analysis, duplicating effort and not making efficient use of employees' time. The paper records were then stored in the document archive, creating a huge storage requirement.
The Solution:
TransForm enabled Dounreay to trial their existing Psion Workabout against a completely different handheld computer without further development costs. As TransForm contains a powerful Form Generator, UKAEA's existing paper forms could be recreated on-screen, ensuring familiarity with the operators and helping with the migration to electronic data collection.
The Benefits:
TransForm enables employees to collect plant data at source using handheld computers - the data is simply uploaded to the PC when they return to the office. This data is then immediately available for trend analysis using the graphing tools within TransForm. The requirement for paper storage has been removed due to electronic archiving.
Because it has a well documented audit trail, TransForm also provides UKAEA with detailed records on who carried out each inspection, when it took place and any further action taken.
The Future:
A successful trial could lead to more areas of the site using TransForm for electronic data recording. Although each area of the site has a different requirement, due to the flexibility and ease of TransForm, each one can replicate their existing paper forms and checklists. Any amendments required can be carried out immediately and without further development costs.
