The offices of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates in Richmond, B.C.RICHARD LAM/The Canadian Press
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has inked a $2.2-million deal with Ontario-based Bruce Power to help develop nuclear plant inspection and maintenance technologies.
The nuclear operator is currently in the design phase of building the Bruce Reactor Inspection and Maintenance System.
The purpose of the system is to reduce the duration of nuclear reactor outages by improving the inspection and maintenance technologies.
The environments where these technologies are used can only be accessed by robotics.
MDA, best-known for the robotic arms used on the International Space Station and the now retired U.S. space shuttles, supplies technology to a variety of businesses that use satellites to collect information from space.
"We have been selected to help improve inspection technologies, based on the sound engineering and safety disciplines we have honed through many years of working on space robotics solutions," said Don Osborne, head of robotics at MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.
Bruce Power is a nuclear facility that provides almost a third of Ontario's electricity.