8/7/2015

AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnology

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Aroboticfuturefornuclear
fusion
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6August2015GaryPeters

InMay,itwasannouncedthatAmecFosterWheelerwilldeveloparemote
handlingsystemfortheITERfusionreactorinFrance.Thesevenyearrobotics
contractwillfocusonasystemthatcanhandlehazardousandsensitive
materialsremotely,allwiththeaimofdemonstratingthefeasibilityofnuclear
fusionasafuturepowersource.

AmecFosterWheelerwasawardedthecontractbyFusionforEnergy(F4E),
theEUorganisationresponsibleforEurope'scontributiontoITER,whichisthe
world'sbiggestfusionenergyproject.Thecompany'ssystem,officiallyknown
astheNeutralBeamCellRemoteHandlingSystem,isthelargestnuclear
roboticscontractawardedbyF4EtoaUKcompanytodate.
AmecFosterWheelerwillleadtheprojectwithsupportfromahostofother
specialists,includingtheCulhamCentreforFusionEnergy(theUK'snational
fusionresearchlaboratory),ReelSASofFranceandWalischmillerEngineering
GmbHofGermany.
Astheprojectbeginstomovethroughtheconceptphasealongitslengthypath,
JonMontgomerie,chiefengineerattheEuropeanRemoteHandlingAlliance
(ERHA),anAmecFosterWheelercooperativecontractingarrangement,
discussestheoriginoftheideaandhowitwillworkinpractice.

GaryPeters:CanyoutalkmethroughAmecFosterWheeler's
expertiseintheareaofusingroboticsforenergyandnuclear
fusion?
JonMontgomerie:Thenuclearfissionindustryhasusedremotehandlingin
oneformoranotherrightfromitsinception,asitwasknownfromthestartthat
thereweresomesituationswherematerialshandlingrequirementscouldnotbe
metsafelyusingahumanoperatorwithconventionaltools.Gradually,
technologyhasevolvedtobettermeettheseneeds,startingwithsimpletongs
operatedthroughaballjointinashieldingwalluptotheelectronicallycontrolled
roboticdeviceswearedevelopingtoday.Thisspecialisedsphereofexpertise
canbecallednuclearremotehandling(RH)orrobotics,andwehaveanumber
ofexpertsinthisfieldwithexpertiseandpastexperienceofnuclearRHwork.
Thecompanyitselfhasdeliveredquiteafewprojectsovertheyearsinnuclear
RH,withariseinrecentyearspartlyfuelledbyanincreaseinremote
interventionsneededbyoneofourmajorclientstoaddressemergentissues,
oftenagerelated,withitsfleetofnuclearpowerstations.Inrecentyears,Amec
FosterWheeler'snuclearbusinesshashadanaverageturnoverinNuclearRH
ofaround5mperyear,sotheNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystem
contract,at70moversevenyears,representsamajorstepforwardforus.
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AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnology

GP:HowdidthepremiseofaremotehandlingsystemfortheITER
fusionreactorinFrancecomeabout?
JM:ITERwill,inverysimpleterms,recreatethereactionthatisgoingoninthe
centreofthesunheldwithinavacuumandconstrainedbylargemagnetic
fields.Thiscreatesanenvironmentthatpersonnelcannotaccess,andtherefore
remotehandlingsystemsneedtobecreatedtoallowallsortsoftaskstobe
performed.TheNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystemisoneofthese
systems.Conceptsforthesevarioussystemshavebeendevelopedfora
numberofyearsbythescientificcommunity,andwearenowatthestageofthe
ITERprojectoftakingtheseconceptdesignsandmakingthemreal,sothat
theycanactuallybebuilt.

GP:Diggingdeeperintothespecifics,howwillthesystembe
operated?
JM:Overtheprojectedsevenyeardevelopmentanddeliveryphase,ERHAwill
needtoinvolvehundredsofpeoplewithskillsrangingfromthoseoftheproject
directorthroughtothespecialistengineerswithskillsinrobotics,liftingsystems,
specialistcuttingandothertoolsystems,controlsystem,visionsystems,andso
on,rightthroughtothecraftsmendeliveringtheprecisionmanufacturing
necessarytobuildthistypeofequipmentandthensafelyandsuccessfully
installandcommissionit.

Nuclearpower
goodfor
biodiversity?

Seventyfive
academics
havecalledfor
alargerrolefor
nuclearinthe
futureenergy
mix.

Onceinstalledandcommissioned,thesystemwillbe
operatedbyITERstaff,trainedbyus,workingfroma
controlroomsafelyshieldedfromtheenvironmentof
theNeutralBeamcell,andabout100mawayfromit.
Alloperationswillbenotonlycarriedoutremotelybut
alsoviewedremotelythatistosay,therewillbeno
directviewthroughwindowsorwhatever.Monitoring
operationswillbeentirelybyCCTVandother
electronicmonitoringsystems.
Interestingly,fromourpastexperienceweknowthat
eventhehumblemicrophonecanbeahugelyvaluable
instrumentinallowingRHoperatorstounderstand
whattheequipmentisdoingandhowitisperforming,
buttherewillofcoursebemanymoresophisticated
instrumentsgeneratingdatatoguidetheoperatorsin
theirwork.

GP:Whatwillbethecoreresponsibilitiesof
thesystem?
JM:Asthenameimplies,theNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystemworksin
theNeutralBeamCell,providingforallmaintenanceactivitiestobecarriedout
fromandincludingtheopeningoftheshieldedcoversontheneutralbeam
lines.
Eachoftheselinestherewillbethreeorfourisaroundthesizeofasmall
bus,andiscrammedwithcomplexequipmentworkingatuptoamillionvolts.
Provisionneedstobemadetodisconnectandchangeoutthevariousmodules
insidethatallowthebeamlinestowork.Essentiallyitmustbepossibleto
completelystripouttheentirecontentsofthebeamlinevesselstoanempty
shellandthenreassemblecompletely,allwithoutanymanaccesstothecell.
CommontomostothernuclearRHsystems,itmustalsobepossibletorecover
fromanypostulatedfaultscenario,againwithoutany'manaccess'tothecell,
soeachmachineneedssystemsdesignedintoitforrecovery,andmethodsfor
remotelychangingovertothemsothatafailedpieceofequipmentcanbe
retrievedremotelyandrepaired.

GP:Whatbenefitswillitprovide?
JM:EssentiallyitwouldbeimpossibletooperatetheNeutralBeamCellwithout
theRHsystem,andwithouttheNBcellitwouldbeimpossibletooperateITER.
Thereareseveralothersystemsintheplantthathaveasimilaressential
nature,inthattheareastheyworkinareentirelynonaccessible,yetcontain
componentsandsystemsvitaltothefunctioningoftheITERplant.

GP:Whatchallengesexistwhentryingtodeveloparemote
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AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnology

handlingsystemforsuchatask?
JM:Itisobviouslyourprimeintentiontoutiliseexistingtechnologicalbuilding
blockswhereverpossiblewedon'twanttoreinventthewheel!Allthesame,
therearesomespecifictechnicalissuesthatareneworatleastsomewhat
novel,andanearlypartoftheworkistoidentifytheseandcarryoutthe
necessaryR&Dtoconvertthese'technicaluncertainties'intotriedandtested
technologythatwecandeploywithconfidence.Thisisparticularlycrucialfor
ITERbecause,toagreaterextentthanmostothernuclearplants,itwillbe
hugelydependantonitsRemoteHandlingsystems,someofwhichifthey
failedcouldbringthewholeplanttoastandstill.

"Onceinstalled
and
commissioned,
thesystemwill
beoperatedby
ITERstaff,
Onamacroscale,thedeploymentoftherobotsystems trainedbyus,
andtheirtoolsrequiresdeploymentmachineswith
workingfroma
reachdistancesandnumberofdegreesoffreedom
controlroom
thatarerareevenwithrelativelysimpleRHsystems.
safelyshielded
Thesesystemsmustreachalongwayintoawkward
spacesandachieveaveryhighqualityofworkallin
fromthe
all,afairlychallengingnuclearenvironment.
environmentof
GP:Howwilltheremotehandlingsystemhelp
theNeutral
demonstratethetechnicalfeasibilityofnuclear
Beamcell."
fusionasafuturepowersource?
Inparticular,thereareanumberoftoolsthatneedto
bedevelopedfortherobotstodeploy,fortheremote
cutting,weldingandinspectingofpipework,alltoa
veryhighstandard.Remotecuttingandweldinghave
beendonebefore,butthechallengesofdifficult
access,constrainedspace,limitedconnectivityand
extremelyhighstandardstobeachievedmeanthat
thesetoolswillneedtobeabsolutelycuttingedge.

JM:Thefeasibilityoffusionasanenergysourcewillbeverifiedbythe
functioningoftheITERexperimentitself,andultimatelyprovenbythefollowup
plantDEMO,whichwillbetheworld'sfirstprototypeFusionPowerStation.But,
asnotedbefore,certainaspectsofthefunctioningoftheITERplantwouldbe
impossiblewithoutthesophisticatedRHsystemsweareworkingon,andas
suchtheyarepartofthatproofthatfusioncan,intheend,provideasustainable
energysourceforthefuture.

GP:Howimportantaredevelopmentssuchasthesetonuclear
fusionandindeedenergyasawhole?
JM:ThesuccessfulfunctioningoftheseRHsystemsisvitaltotheoperationof
theITERplantitself,andtheirsuccessorswillbeequallyvitaltotheoperationof
DEMO,andhencetotheveryfutureoffusionasaviableenergysource.
Morebroadly,sincetheworkingenvironmentsaresimilar,thereishuge
potentialforthetechnology,knowledgeandexperiencegeneratedonthese
projectstotransferbackintothefissionindustryfromwherealmostallthe
expertiseoriginallycame.
ThemoreextremechallengesposedbytheITERRemoteHandlingsystemsis
forcingnuclearRHtechnologyforwardatamuchacceleratedpace,making
newapproachesthenavailableto[the]widernuclearindustry,potentially
improvingefficiencyandeffectivenessinallkindsofotherapplications.We
alreadyhaveasmallR&DcontractinsupportofFukushima,andthisisjustone
example,albeitawellknownone,ofwhereimprovementsinnuclearremote
handlingandroboticscouldhavehugebenefits.

Ashotfromavirtual
positionwithinthe
beamsource,which
showsthebeamsource
remotehandling
equipment.

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AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnology

Thismanipulatorwillbe
usedonthebeam
sourceremotehandling
equipmentBSRHEand
beamlinetransporters.

Themonorailcraneis
usedtoremotely
accessthecellforall
equipment.

AmecFosterWheeler
willnowdevelopa
remotehandling
systemoveraseven
yearproject.

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