Demonstration testing of a surveillance robot at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant: Analysis of costs and benefits

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6189542

White, J R; Farnstrom, K A; Harvey, H W; Howard, R; Feltman, A; Llewellyn, P

This report presents the results of an NRC project to determine whether robotics equipment can be cost effective in performing surveillance and inspection work at existing nuclear power plants. A mobile surveillance robot, called SURBOT, was developed by the Remote Technology Corporation (REMOTEC) to perform visual, sound, and radiation surveillance within rooms designated as radiologically hazardous. SURBOT was tested in the turbine building of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFNP) by TVA personnel for a five-month period. The results showed that SURBOT obtains higher quality data and can perform more thorough surveillance within radiation areas than workers wearing protective clothing. SURBOT can be transferred between rooms without releasing contamination in the hallways using a portable enclosure. TVA has estimated that over 100 person-rem exposure and $100,000 operating costs can be saved annually at the BFNP using SURBOT for surveillance in 54 turbine and reactor building rooms. TVA recommendations for improving the function, reliability, and maintainability have been incorporated into a production model of SURBOT which is now commercially available from REMOTEC along with other types of mobile robots and manipulators.

• Research Organization: REMOTEC, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (USA); Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (USA). Div. of Regulatory Applications
• OSTI ID: 6189542
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-4815; ON: TI87900591
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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42 ENGINEERING
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CAMERAS
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DESIGN
ENERGY SYSTEMS
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REMOTE VIEWING EQUIPMENT
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TELEVISION CAMERAS
TESTING
THERMAL POWER PLANTS