Radiation-Hardened Robotics for Fuel Inventory and Inspections in Nuclear Reactor Vessels

Visual inspection systems for remote inspection in radioactive environments, or for investigating nuclear accident conditions are extremely limited. Commercially available vision systems cannot survive in extremely high-radiation-level environments. Vega Wave Systems, Inc. has developed an advanced ultra-radiation-hardened vision system for the nuclear industry capable of withstanding more than an order of magnitude more radiation than the maximum encountered during the nuclear power plant refueling process. In this program, Vega Wave Systems, Inc. will develop a robotic system using this ultra-rad-hard vision system capable of operating in the reactor vessel for close inspection, fuel assembly gap measurement and fuel assembly inventory. This would enable rapid close inspection and inventory verification of the final fuel array as well as gap measurement of the entire fuel array prior to resuming operation. This development would significantly enhance the safety and operational efficiency of advanced nuclear facilities and the current United States commercial nuclear reactor fleet. Commercial Applications: The radiation-hardened robotic vision system developed in this program will enable improved inspection and visual verification of the operation of nuclear power plants. This will also be useful improved inspection of remote handling of radioactive materials for nuclear physics, spent fuel, and nuclear accident sites.