Automation of concrete curing in nuclear sarcophagi for Enresa
Company
Enresa is the company responsible for nuclear waste management in Spain. It manufactures concrete blocks — sarcophagi — to safely store radioactive waste, ensuring long-term isolation and structural stability.
Challenge
To automate and monitor the concrete curing process, ensuring that each block complies with specific temperature and humidity profiles during manufacturing, thereby guaranteeing strength and safety in nuclear waste storage.
Problem
- Limited manual control: Steam spraying and monitoring of curing parameters depended on manual supervision.
- Variability in critical conditions: Differences in temperature and humidity could affect the strength and safety of the sarcophagi.
- Lack of traceability: There was no centralized record of measurements and actions taken during the curing process.
- Need for integration: It was essential to coordinate sensors, PLC systems, and control actions within a single, secure system.
Solution
How we do it?
We installed strategically distributed sensors to measure temperature, humidity, and other critical KPIs throughout the concrete curing process.
- Integrated PLC: Controls steam spraying and other actions on the sarcophagi according to programmed curing profiles.
- Custom SCADA system: Enables real-time monitoring of parameters, programming of curing sequences, and automatic report generation for each block.
- Automation and traceability: The entire process is recorded and supervised, ensuring strict compliance with the defined conditions for each sarcophagus.
Results
- Fully controlled and automated concrete curing process
- Guaranteed compliance with critical temperature and humidity profiles for nuclear safety
- Full traceability through automatically generated SCADA reports
- Reduced human error and optimized sarcophagus manufacturing process
- Increased safety and efficiency in nuclear waste management