Proposed radiation hardened mobile vehicle for Chernobyl dismantlement and nuclear accident response

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:238462

Rowland, M S; Holliday, M A ^[1]; Karpachov, J A ^[2]; Ivanov, A ^[3]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. Scientific Inst. of Special Mechanical Problems, Kiev (Ukraine). Polytechnical Inst.
3. Interbranch Scientific and Technical Center, Chernobyl (Ukraine)

Researchers are developing a radiation hardened, Telerobotic Dismantling System (TDS) to remediate the Chernobyl facility. To withstand the severe radiation fields, the robotic system, will rely on electrical motors, actuators, and relays proven in the Chernobyl power station. Due to its dust suppression characteristics and ability to cut arbitrary materials the authors propose using a water knife as the principle tool to slice up the large fuel containing masses. The front end of the robot will use a minimum number of moving parts by locating most of the susceptible and bulky components outside the work area. Hardened and shielded video cameras will be designed for remote control and viewing of the robotic functions. Operators will supervise and control robot movements based on feedback from a suite of sensory systems that would include vision systems, radiation detection and measurement systems and force reflection systems. A gripper will be instrumented with a variety of sensors (e.g. force, torque, or tactile), allowing varying debris surface properties to be grasped. The gripper will allow the operator to manipulate and segregate debris items without entering the radiologically and physically dangerous dismantlement operations area. The robots will initially size reduce the FCM`s to reduce the primary sources of the airborne radionuclides. The robot will then remove the high level waste for packaging or decontamination, and storage nearby.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 238462
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--119456; CONF-950232--39; ON: DE96010838
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
CHERNOBYLSK-4 REACTOR
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS
CORIUM
CUTTING TOOLS
DESIGN
EROSION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
MATERIALS HANDLING
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION HARDENING
REACTOR DISMANTLING
REMOTE VIEWING EQUIPMENT
ROBOTS