Use of simulation to examine operational scenarios in a lathe glovebox for the processing of nuclear materials.

Conference · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2001

OSTI ID:975624

McQueen, M ^[1]; Ashok, P ^[2]; Cox, D J ^[3]; Pittman, P C ^[4]; Turner, C J ^[5]; Hollen, R M ^[6]

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1. Melissa
2. Pradeepkumar
3. Daniel J.
4. Pete C.
5. Cameron J.
6. Robert M.

In the process of dispositioning nuclear materials into storage, the use of a robot eliminates the safety risks to humans and increases productivity. The current process of processing typically uses humans to handle the hazardous material using gloves through glove-ports. This process is not only dangerous, but also costly, because humans can only be subjected to limited exposure to nuclear materials due to the actual Occupational Radiation Exposure (ORE) and thus have a fixed amount of dedicated workload per unit time. Use of robotics reduces ORE to humans and increases productivity. The Robotics Research Group at the University of Texas at Austin has created a simulation model of a conceptual application that uses a robot inside the glovebox to handle hazardous materials for lathe machining process operations in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). The actions of the robot include preparing the parts for entry into the box, weighing the parts, positioning the parts into the headstock chuck of the lathe, handling the subsequent processed parts, changing and replacing the lathe tools and chuck assemblies are necessary to process the material. The full three-dimensional geometric model of the simulation demonstrates the normal expected operation from beginning to end and verifies the path plans for the robot. The emphasis of this paper is to report additional findings from the simulation model, which is currently being expanded to include failure mode analysis, error recovery, and other what-if scenarios involved in unexpected, or unplanned, operation of the robot and lathe process inside of the glovebox.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• OSTI ID: 975624
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-01-3701
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS
GLOVES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
LANL
LATHES
MACHINING
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
POSITIONING
PROCESSING
PRODUCTIVITY
RADIATIONS
ROBOTS
SAFETY
SIMULATION
STORAGE