Unique applications of underwater tooling: the TMI-2 defueling experience
The complex task of safely removing the damaged core from Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) is under way. Many unique underwater operations are being performed in the cut up and placement of the debris into defueling canisters, and a wide range of problems is being encountered and resolved. The unknown conditions beneath the upper core layer at TMI-2 during the tooling design phase imposed a basic requirement to provide a set of tools with maximum versatility and usefulness for a wide range of conditions that could not be precisely defined. The basic tool kit designed for early core removal activities includes long-handled tools that are either manually or hydraulically operated for the purposes of picking up and placing into fuel canisters fuel rods or pieces of control rods and fuel assembly upper end fittings that lay on the rubble bed after they were dislodged from the upper plenum grid structure. A special underwater vacuum system is also designed to clear the loose rubble that lay under the end fittings. A summary of TMI-2 defueling experience is provided.
- Research Organization:
- Bechtel North American Power Corp., Gaithersburg, MD
- OSTI ID:
- 6657598
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-860610-
- Journal Information:
- Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Vol. 52; ISSN TANSA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Ex-Vessel Defueling for TMI-2
TMI-2 defueling tools engineering report
Related Subjects
210200 -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
ACCIDENTS
CONTAINERS
CORIUM
CUTTING TOOLS
DEMOLITION
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
EQUIPMENT
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
POWER REACTORS
PRESSURE VESSELS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORE DISRUPTION
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR DISMANTLING
REACTORS
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
REMOVAL
THERMAL REACTORS
THREE MILE ISLAND-2 REACTOR
TOOLS
UNDERWATER OPERATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS