Dexterous manipulators for nuclear inspection and maintenance — Case study

Abstract

Life extension and plant management of nuclear assets is a critical issue for nuclear operators. This paper considers the growing requirement to ascertain the state of the nuclear systems by means of direct plant measurement, with the consequential requirement to conduct in-situ repairs. These requirements have driven the development of new remote handling techniques. The paper considers the application of a new design of remote handling systems to two different tasks within different reactor types. The first task involved removal and replacement of a section of SCRAM pipe within a BWR. The second task involves the first deployment of a new inspection tool to access primary circuit feeder pipes within the Upper Feeder Cabinets of CANDU reactors. Both tasks have confined space, limited access requirements, in addition to nuclear radiation hazards and required deployment of nose-following multi-degree of freedom snake-arm robot systems.