Results of Robotic Evaluation of Uranium-235 in Gaseous Diffusion Piping Holdup Deposits - 18303
Conference
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OSTI ID:22975447
- Carnegie Mellon University (United States)
- University of Nevada, Reno (United States)
- Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth LLC (United States)
- Fluor Government Group (United States)
Measurement of U-235 in pipes within old uranium enrichment facilities is time-consuming and very costly. Radiometric assay from outside the pipes suffers from manual deployment challenges, attenuation of detection through pipe walls, long counting times, approximate modeling, and shortfalls associated with transcription and human interpretation. The D and D process of cutting into these pipes creates a unique possibility of robotic in-pipe assay to address these problems. This paper presents the results of testing a first-of-kind radiometric non-destructive assay (NDA) robot for high-cadence, accurate, certain, paperless assay of U-235 in holdup deposits within process piping. The robot's enabling capability is an innovative radiometric collimation method that views only a one-foot moving annulus of pipe wall. This exploits the internal axisymmetry of pipes to provide a direct measurement of industry-standard grams per foot U-235. The initial proof-of-application robot was successfully hot tested by operators at the Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Facility in Piketon, Ohio, in late 2017. This testing achieved all goals of traversing pipe, measuring U-235, deployment by facility personnel, and displaying analyzed radiation, visual, and geometric information. The success was a Kitty Hawk moment. The system demonstrated robotic in-pipe measurement of holdup deposit to a resolution, accuracy, and speed unachievable by alternate methods. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22975447
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--20-WM-18303
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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