The nuclear industry relies on telerobotics for inspection, refurbishment and to carry out basic plant operations, in radioactive facilities. A wide range of remote handling systems have been developed to carry out varied tasks. The remote handling systems can range from simple grab and release mechanically linked systems to complex hydraulically/electrically linked systems with special features such as programmability, resolved motion and collision detection. The driving forces to continue development of remote handling systems come from the need to make the plant more efficient, carry out complex tasks cheaply and quickly and to satisfy new regulations. This chapter is based on systems used in British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL).

Inspec keywords: grippers; industrial manipulators; telerobotics; nuclear facility regulation; inspection; remote handling

Other keywords: inspection; telerobotics; nuclear industry; radioactive facilities; mechanically linked system; nuclear plant operation; electrically linked system; remote handling system; industrial robotics; hydraulically linked system; refurbishment; British Nuclear Fuels pic

Subjects: Fission reactor materials