Robotic cleaning of radwaste tank nozzles

摘要

The Susquehanna radwaste processing system includes two reactor water cleanup phase separator tanks and one waste sludge phase separator tank. A system of educator nozzles and associated piping is used to provide mixing in the tanks. The mixture pumped through the nozzles is a dense resin-and-water slurry, and the nozzles tend to plug up during processing. The previous method for clearing the nozzles had been for a worker to enter the tanks and manually insert a hydrolaser into each nozzle, one at a time. The significant radiation exposure and concern for worker safety in the tank led the utility to investigate alternate means for completing this task. The typical tank configuration is shown in a figure. The initial approach investigated was to insert a manipulator arm in the tank. This arm would be installed by workers and then teleoperated from a remote control station. This approach was abandoned because of several considerations including educator location and orientation, excessive installation time, and cost. The next approach was to use a mobile platform that would operate on the tank floor. This approach was selected as being the most feasible solution. After a competitive selection process, REMOTEC was selected to provide the mobilemore » platform. Their proposal was based on the commercial ANDROS Mark 5 platform.« less