Replacement of a Legacy Crane in a Hot Cell

Abstract

Hot cells are unique facilities used to handle highly radioactive and contaminated material. High contamination and radiation hazards often prohibit worker access unless extensive clean-up and decontamination is performed. At Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River Labs, the chain driving the trolley of a hot cell’s legacy ½-ton crane had failed and required repair. An extensive in-cell inspection was performed using a remotely operated camera and photogrammetry to inform the repair strategy. This led to the conclusion to replace the trolley-hoist with a new custom unit, as well as preemptively replacing the chain that drives the crane’s bridge. The repair strategy was challenged by the hot cell manipulator’s limited payload capacity and inability to reach higher elevations in the hot cell, the availability of documentation from the crane manufacturer, and the inherent complications that exist when performing seemingly simple tasks in a remote setting. This paper describes the crane repair strategy and how the challenges were overcome, including the development of a new custom trolley-hoist, purpose-built tooling, the use of additive manufacturing, and extensive mock-up testing. The solution resulted in the successful completion of the crane repair, which leads to improved reliability for hot cell operations.