Mobile robotics application in the nuclear industry

Conference · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:54687

Jones, S L; White, J R ^[1]

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1. REMOTEC, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Mobile robots have been developed to perform hazardous operations in place of human workers. Applications include nuclear plant inspection/maintenance, decontamination and decommissioning police/military explosive ordinance disposal (EOD), hostage/terrorist negotiations and fire fighting. Nuclear facilities have proven that robotic applications can be cost-effective solutions to reducing personnel exposure and plant downtime. The first applications of mobile robots in the nuclear industry began in the early 1980`s, with the first vehicles being one of a kind machines or adaptations of commercial EOD robots. These activities included efforts by numerous commercial companies, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, EPRI, and several national laboratories. Some of these efforts were driven by the recovery and cleanup activities at TMI which demonstrated the potential and need for a remote means of performing surveillance and maintenance tasks in nuclear plants. The use of these machines is now becoming commonplace in nuclear facilities throughout the world. The hardware maturity and the confidence of the users has progressed to the point where the applications of mobile robots is not longer considered a novelty. These machines are being used in applications where the result is to help achieve more aggressive goals for personnel radiation exposure and plant availability, perform tasks more efficiently, and allow plant operators to retrieve information from areas previously considered inaccessible. Typical examples include surveillance in high radiation areas (during operation and outage activities), radiation surveys, waste handling, and decontamination evolutions. This paper will discuss this evolution including specific applications experiences, examples of currently available technology, and the benefits derived from the use of mobile robotic vehicles in commercial nuclear power facilities.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Regulatory Applications; Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 54687
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CP--0143; BNL-NUREG--52440; CONF-940505--; ON: TI95008770
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ALARA
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
INSPECTION
MAINTENANCE
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ROBOTS
USES