Remote Handling Mockup Facility
"Trying out" experiments for handling radioactive materials
Argonne has designed and built a Remote Handling Mockup Facility that lets
engineers simulate the handling of radioactive materials in a non-radioactive
environment. The ability to carry out the details of an experiment ahead of time
lets engineers streamline and tailor processes and procedures, saving a great
deal of time and expense during the actual experiment.
The Facility has two robotic-arm manipulators that allow an operator to "mock
up" equipment to ensure that it can be used remotely.
Engineers can measure a specific shielded cell facility—window, table top,
and entrance port—and reproduce it. "This means we can design equipment that not
only fits into that particular cell but can be remotely assembled and operated
in it," says Art Guelis, who oversees process development. "It's invaluable to
be able to work out problems with equipment before it is actually inserted into
a hot cell facility."
In the course of refining the procedures, engineers often call upon their
inventive skills to design specialized pieces of equipment to get the job done
in the most effective way. Recently, for example, Argonne's engineers needed to
design a system to digest uranium and remotely move the resulting slurry through
a system of filters and resin columns. The real challenge came when the
engineers learned that the only opening into the shielded facility was through a
10-inch round port. All of the equipment had to be designed to fit through the
port and be assembled remotely.
Engineers are aided in such situations by Argonne's
Central Shops, a state-of-the-art manufacturing and machining facility that
can meet unique experimental and inspection needs.
|