Pyrochemical processing automation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Conference · Wed Sep 18 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5821034

Dennison, D K; Domning, E E ^[1]; Seivers, R ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. Science Applications International Corp., Pleasanton, CA (United States)

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is developing a fully automated system for pyrochemical processing of special nuclear materials (SNM). The system utilizes a glove box, an automated tilt-pour furnace (TPF), an IBM developed gantry robot, and specialized automation tooling. All material handling within the glove box (i.e., furnace loading, furnace unloading, product and slag separation, and product packaging) is performed automatically. The objectives of the effort are to increase process productivity, decrease operator radiation, reduce process wastes, and demonstrate system reliability and availability. This paper provides an overview of the automated system hardware, outlines the overall operations sequence, and discusses the current status.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5821034
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-107452; CONF-911107--1; ON: DE92006903
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Fuels Production & Properties
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
42 ENGINEERING
420203* -- Engineering-- Handling Equipment & Procedures
AUTOMATION
CRUCIBLES
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTROREFINING
EQUIPMENT
GLOVEBOXES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABORATORY
LYSIS
MATERIALS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REFINING
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS