Application of Robotics to Assemble a Used Fuel Container in the Canadian Used Fuel Packing Plant

The newest Canadian Used Fuel Container (UFC)- (called also “Mark II”) modifies the design approach for its Assembly Robotic Cell (ARC) in the Canadian Used (Nuclear) Fuel Packing Plant (UFPP). Some of the robotic design solutions are presented in this paper. The design indicates that robots and manipulators are expected to be used in the Canadian UFPP. As normally, the UFPP design will incorporate redundancy of all equipment to allow expedient recovery from any postulated upset conditions. Overall, this paper suggests that robot usage will have a significant positive impact on nuclear safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.

Authors:

• Dimitrie Marinceu

Keywords:

• Used fuel packing plant
• robotic assembly cell
• used fuel container
• deep geological repository.

References:

[1] Nuclear Waste Management Organization. 2005. Choosing A Way Forward: The Future Management of Canada’s Used Nuclear Fuel – Final Study. Issued by NWMO to the Minister of Natural Resources Canada in November 2005, Toronto, Canada.
[2] SNC Lavalin “Deep Geological Repository Design Report, Crystalline Rock Environment”, 0206-06-6100-REPT-0001, Toronto, Canada.
[3] D. Marinceu, A. Murchison, C. Hatton – “Robots Usage into a Canadian Used Nuclear Fuel Plant”, CARPI 2012, Zurich.
[4] C. Medri, Internal document: “Scoping Estimates of UFC Shielding Thickness Requirements”, APM-CALC-04330, NWMO, April 2012.
[5] Z. G. Keszthelyi, D. Morikawa - “The CANDU 9 Fuel Transfer System”, First Conference on CANDU Fuel Handling Systems”, May 1996, Toronto.