Spot's new cleanup gig involves gamma rays, alpha particles, and considerably less PPE than fleshy colleagues

Bark!Bark!Bark! Sellafield Ltd is to use Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dogs in "routine, business-as-usual operations" amid the ongoing cleanup and decommissioning of the notorious UK nuclear site.

Plans for day-to-day use of the mechanical quadrupeds were disclosed in a case study detailing the trial of the technology over the last few years.

As Sellafield Ltd noted: "Sellafield is one of the most complex nuclear sites in the world. Parts of the site are hazardous and can be difficult or unsafe to access."

This all dates back to the Cold War era, when the government rushed to develop nuclear materials and weapons at the site – then called Windscale – without considering the need for managing and clearing the resulting nuclear waste. The situation wasn't helped by a fire in 1957 that led to the escape of radioactive fallout.

As the case study explains: "Our decommissioning work increasingly depends on ...