Remote Feeder Removal for CANDU 6 at GENTILLY-2

Abstract

As a baseline for all CANDU 6 refurbishment project, AECL has retained a manual removal method. However, the higher radiation levels at the Gentilly 2 power plant, and the relative uncertainty of the heat transfer system (HTS) decontamination outcome, has pushed HQs higher management to finance a feasibility study analysing a novel approach for the feeder removal. For the last 2 years, Hydro-Québec has been working on an alternative way to remove feeder in preparation for the refurbishment of its power plant. The process would use Teleoperated Master-Slave Mechanical Arms to remotely perform the entire feeder removal task thus reducing the radiation exposure and increasing the overall safety of the worker. This paper will present an overview of the work executed in this study, putting emphasis on the actual Remote Feeder Removal (RFR) scenario, its principal tasks and the tooling developed to achieve this. This work was executed through a close relationship between the Hydro-Québec Research Center (IREQ) and Gentilly 2 pre-refurbishment project teams.