Secure wireless systems for the nuclear industry - 650m underground in a uranium mine

Deep underground in northern Canada lies an extensive uranium mine where the workers and control systems benefit from the use of wireless systems and technology. Having the preprocessing facility located 650m underground along with millions of dollars of equipment and tens of workers with radioactive walls and a frozen subterranean lake right above you defines a hazardous environment. Control systems and their associated human machine interfaces must be clear, easy to operate and failsafe. Coupled into the mix are wireless systems being used for asset tracking (humans, machines), video safety and security systems, VoIP communications, and process system field instruments with wireless connectivity. The situation is technologically complex with the tunnels behaving as multipath-laden, radioactive, pseudo-waveguides and logistically complex in synchronization of the control and human systems both above and below ground. An overall review of the situation just described married to issues associated with the extraction and processing of underground Uranium ore deposits concentrating on issues involving nuclear plant instrumentation, controls and human machine interface technology is presented.