How drones improve nuclear plant safety and reliability

We use technology daily to make life easier and more efficient. We use it to order food or coffee, ask questions and get directions. And, at our nuclear plants, we are using indoor drones in a similar way.

Brunswick Nuclear Plant employee, William Kerr, training to fly indoor drones

Indoor drones provide a way for our nuclear workers to perform tasks more efficiently and safely. Whether employing drones for preventive maintenance or to examine hard to reach areas, the goal is to use this technology to make our nuclear plants even more reliable.

For example, Duke Energy nuclear workers are using indoor drones to perform inspections in confined spaces. Normally, at least two workers are sent into a confined space to perform an inspection. By deploying indoor drones, a trained pilot can use its high definition video and infrared camera to capture the necessary footage down to the very last bolt, and send it back to plant teammates for review. This allows the inspection to occur without requiring workers to enter difficult to navigate areas.

This is just one of the many ways we are using technology to enhance the way we work. Workers recently used an indoor drone at our Brunswick Nuclear Plant to perform equipment inspections. Using the indoor drones eliminated the need to build and remove four, 20-foot temporary scaffolds, allowing the Brunswick team to use scaffolding resources for other work.

Workers prepare an indoor drone for pilots training at Catawba Nuclear Station

Currently, we have 28 trained indoor drone pilots across our nuclear fleet and are looking for additional opportunities to use this technology.

We are actively encouraging our employees to think about how they do their jobs and how they can become more efficient in their work. Using drones is one many innovative projects we are implementing to provide additional value for our customers.