LaserSnake versus Dragon

Our LaserSnake system has been put to work on the highly radioactive core of the redundant DRAGON reactor.

The long, flexible snake-arm robot was passed through a narrow hole in the three meter thick concrete around the core. It sliced through a 400mm diameter vessel attached to the reactor core at Winfrith in Dorset.

Contractors OC Robotics were called in by the Magnox team decommissioning DRAGON when it became clear that removing the vessel, known as the Purge Gas Pre-Cooler (PGPC), would be a challenging task, with one end joined to the core in the high radiation area behind the concrete shielding and several steel plates, while the other end extended outside the shielding.

The laser snake technology, developed by OC Robotics and TWI with R&D funding from the NDA, seemed perfect: controlled from a distance by specialist operators, LaserSnake can squeeze through a small access hole, manoeuvre easily inside a very confined space and cut multiple layers with its high-powered laser. This allowed the work to be carried out inside the existing radiation shielding of the reactor.

Although LaserSnake had previously been deployed at Sellafield, the thick pipework, complex layout of the PGPC, and limited access meant it was necessary to prepare two mock-ups to allow comprehensive testing and rehearsals to take place, before making the cuts for real.

In the end, less than three hours of actual cutting time were needed to free the PGPC from the reactor core.

Magnox Senior Project Manager, Andy Philps said: “We believe this is the first time that laser-cutting technology has been deployed directly on the core of a nuclear reactor. The ability of the LaserSnake to carry out “Keyhole Surgery” on the reactor core meant that the work could be carried out using existing protective shielding. This has saved at least £200k and the radiation dose that would have accompanied building additional infrastructure, and saved four weeks on the programmes critical path. It has also enabled us to remove this component earlier than originally planned”.

The NDA’s Head of Technology Melanie Brownridge said: “This is an excellent example of how early NDA R&D funding support enabled the technology to grow from an exploration of whether laser-cutting could actually be adapted for nuclear into a system that, with further funding and collaborative working, is now mature and being successfully deployed on a number of our sites.”

 

Contact us via e-mail and visit our social media

Copyright 2022 OC Robotics | All Rights Reserved.

Terms and Conditions

Added to basket

CheckoutContinue shopping