Nuclear Waste Removal

Removing Irradiated Materials in Nuclear Power

Description:

In production at nuclear power plants, there are situations where materials and debris can become irradiated at very high radiation dose levels in heavy water. By removing irradiated material in nuclear power, we can reduce the collective radiation exposure for field support technicians. As radioactive waste material is being removed, it is critical that the decommissioning is done safely and efficiently. Our customer had the unique requirement of needing to be able to remove small items of debris from a 20’ foot deep pool of water that contained radioactive material. In this radiation removal application, our specialists were able to pinpoint the exact requirements and design a turnkey radioactive waste removal system solution.

Highlights:

• Debris removal system design for an 8’ diameter 20’ deep pool of water.
• Efficiently and safely collect radioactive debris.
• Utilize and integrate an off-the-shelf vision system.
• Manual tool option with an extended distance.

How it Works:

The radioactive debris removal design incorporates a long reach tool for safe removal at distance to minimize radiation dose, a gripper for physical removal of the radiation debris, and a vision system to provide a camera to investigate the location for debris. The system is tested in house to ensure that this first-of-a-kind system works as expected prior to installation. For removal with radiation protection we have also built a basket retrieval tool, used as a radiation shielding flask. This provides removal and temporary storage of irradiated targets from the nuclear reactor for Mo-99 production.