System for removing sediments from a bed of a liquid environment such as a harbor or a pond, characterized in that it comprises a conduit (30), the lower extremity of which forms a moving suction mouth (31) that is to be placed substantially at the level of the bed, and the upper extremity of which leads into the open air so that said mouth (31) is under atmospheric pressure, said system comprising means for carrying out a local stirring operation (41, 42, 43, 44, 53) within said mouth and discharging means (50, 51, 52) connecting said mouth (31) to the surface of said liquid environment, in which these sediments circulate.

De-trenching apparatus (100) for extracting a buried line, such as a cable or pipeline, is disclosed. The de-trenching apparatus comprises a channel (112) configured to receive a buried line to be extracted, the channel comprising a first flared opening (114) at a front end of the de-trenching apparatus and a second flared opening (115) at the rear end of the de-trenching apparatus, the first and second flared openings each having a curved surface (111) configured to support the line during extraction, and material removal means for removing material from around the buried line ahead of the de-trenching apparatus.

A dredge system for attachment to a vehicle, the dredge system includes a hopper, a mixer and a pump. The hopper has an internal area and is configured to feed material into the internal area of the hopper. The mixer is coupled to the hopper and configured to shear the material in the internal area of the hopper. The pump is coupled to the hopper and is configured to pump the sheared material through a discharge outlet.

Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, with at least one suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits and surrounding water are taken up, and with a temporary storage, connected via a suction conduit to the at least one suction head, for the mineral deposits taken up. The temporary storage includes a container with a front wall, a rear wall, side walls, an upper wall, and a bottom. The temporary storage further includes at the position of the upper wall and connecting to the front wall a first connecting part for the suction conduit, and at substantially the same height and connecting to the rear wall a second connecting part for a discharge conduit for discharge of substantially the sucked-up water. The temporary storage further includes at the position of the bottom and connecting to the interior of the container a third connecting part for a discharge conduit for discharge of substantially the mineral deposits.

Embodiments of the invention provide apparatus and method for seabed resources collection. The apparatus comprises a main module and a plurality of seabed resources collecting devices releasably attached to the main module, wherein the main module and the plurality of collecting devices are configured to be launched from a surface vessel towards a seabed; the main module includes a control module which is configured to determine a mining path for each of the collecting devices based on characteristics of the seabed, control each of the collecting devices to collect seabed resources along the determined mining path and control transfer of the seabed resources collected by the collecting devices, wherein each collecting device is configured to be released from the main module after the apparatus is launched, and to collect seabed resources along the mining path determined by the main module after being released.

Described is a deep-sea mining vehicle for taking up mineral deposits from a seabed at great depth, and optionally transporting said deposits to a floating device. The vehicle includes a support frame provided with means for moving the vehicle forward on the seabed, a storage for the mineral deposits taken up, and further a suction head with an open suction side which is directed toward the seabed and along which the mineral deposits are taken up. The taking up of the mineral deposits and the transport thereof to an outlet, which is connected to a suction conduit leading to the storage, is supported by a gap-like feed opening for water which is connected to an inlet of the suction head and by a pressure chamber for carrying the water at a high exit speed through the feed opening and toward the outlet along an internal wall part which mutually connects the feed opening and the outlet. The wall part is curved such that the distance to the open suction side of the deep-sea mining vehicle decreases from the inlet and then increases again toward the outlet.

A vehicle (6) apparatus for removing material from the seabed is disclosed. The vehicle comprises first thrusters (10) for moving the vehicle vertically and second thrusters (12) for moving the vehicle horizontally. A collector unit (16) removes material from the seabed, and a latching mechanism (42) is adapted to be connected to a riser to enable removed material to be transported to a vessel on the surface.

A robot and a collecting method for collecting polymetallic nodules in deep-sea are provided. The robot includes an underwater moving carrier and a collecting module, and the collecting module is fixedly mounted on the underwater moving carrier. The collecting module includes a collecting frame, a collecting pump, a rack and a collecting tube, the collecting frame is installed at the bottom of the rack, and the collecting pump is a piston pump, which includes a piston and a cylinder with open lower-end. The upper part of the cylinder is a collecting area, the lower part is a piston stroke area, the collecting tube is connected to the cylinder of the collecting area, and a check valve is arranged in the middle of the piston.

The invention relates to a nuclear facility pool cleaning device having a floating platform, capable of floating in water, having buoyancy bodies; a drive device for displacing the floating platform on the surface of a water-filled nuclear facility pool to be cleaned; a winching device connected to the floating platform; a pump which is winchable vertically by the winching device and has a vacuum hose, connected thereto at its first end, for cleaning the bottom of the nuclear facility pool; a remote control device for remotely operating at least the drive device and the winching device; an optional stationary external storage tank; and wherein the second end of the vacuum hose preferably leads at least indirectly into the stationary external storage tank.

A multi-stage seafloor mining system that has at least concentration stage, a reclamation stage, and a haulage stage. The system includes a concentrating system (50) that processes seafloor materials, a reclaimer machine (300) that collects the processed seafloor materials, and a mechanical haulage system (40) that receives the processed seafloor materials collected by the reclaimer machine (300) and conveys discrete parcels of the processed seafloor materials to a surface vessel (100).