Hackadem SUP Final: Victory for team from University of Nîmes

After being selected amongst the top 5, the winners of the Hackadem SUP challenge were chosen by the jury during the grand final on the 28th of May.

Following the presentations from the 5 finalist projects, the ‘Gis Nîmes’ team was selected by the CEA/INSTN jury. The students of the Master's degree in Risks and Environment at the University of Nîmes, Dorian, Julie and Sarah, came up with developing a bioprocess from the combination of two technologies: Coccomyxa microalgae and a decontamination foam developed by CEA experts. The aim of this bioprocess is to reduce the volume of radioactive waste created during the decommissioning of facilities.

Launched in January 2021 by the CEA and INSTN, Hackadem Sup was the first Open Innovation challenge dedicated to nuclear decommissioning. The online challenge was aimed at French-speaking graduate students. Its theme - imagine new technologies for decommissioning - has drawn over 390 students from 88 institutions since the start of the year.

A first selection was made by the jury at the end of April; a jury which included Eric Gadet, Director of INSTN. Five projects out of the 150 submitted were selected at this stage. The live final then took place on the 28^th of May, via the challenge platform.

As for the rest of the teams: Victor and Adrien, students from ENSTA, came in second with a mapping project using a drone adapted for nuclear environments. In third place, we find team Agozuz, Côme, Arthur, Océane and Prisca, from EPF School of Engineering, with a project on risk prevention. In fourth position, Dement’Innov, Nicolas and Benoît, from Polytech, with a project on the contribution of artificial intelligence to site decommissioning. And finally, in fifth position, Nuclé’hair Museum, Octave and Gaspar, from ECE Engineering School and EDHEC Business School, with a project on re-using site areas for public information purposes.

During the results announcement, the students expressed what “a great experience” this challenge had been"; one “to be repeated”, the Dement'Innov team said. The Drone Cartographe (mapping) team also added that they are "all winners in some way from this experience" and that "it’s a very interesting subject to have looked at."

This challenge enabled the students to work on a problem linked to decommissioning and sustainable development, two major challenges for the future of nuclear power. The five finalist projects will be further developed by the CEA with the aim of "making progress on our remediation and decommissioning projects," says Laurence Piketty, Deputy Director General at the CEA.

Hackadem Sup - Hackadem Sup 2021 - link to the final