In-service Inspection of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Part I: Crawler Technology DevelopmentRyan M. Meyer1, Jeremy Renshaw2, Jamie Beard3, Jon Tatman2, Spencer Toone4, Matt Keene5, Paul Plante6, Neil Fales6, Gabriel Grant7, Uwe Wolf8, Darrel Dunn9, Bruce Lin91Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd., Richland, WA 993542Electric Power Research Institute3Robotic Technologies of Tennessee, 699 E. 15th St., Cookeville, TN 385014Arizona Public Service Company5Duke Energy, 526 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 282026Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, 331 Old Ferry Road, Wiscasset, ME 045787Southern Company8Orano TN9United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission&nbsp;This paper describes development and demonstration of remote crawling systems to support periodic examinations of interim dry cask storage system (DCSS) canisters for spent nuclear fuel in the USA. Specifically, this work relates to robotic crawler developments for “canister” based DCSS systems which form the majority population of DCSSs, in the USA, for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel. Consideration of potential degradation of the welded stainless-steel canister in these systems is required for continued usage in the period of extended operation (PEO) beyond their initial licensed or certified terms. Challenges associated with performing the periodic examinations are associated with physical access to the canister surface which is constrained due to narrow annulus spaces between the canister and the overpack, tortuous entry pathways, and high temperatures and radiation doses that can be damaging to materials and electronics. Motivations for performing periodic examinations and developing robotic crawlers for performing those examinations remotely will be presented and several activities to demonstrate robotic crawlers for different DCSS systems will be summarized.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

In-Service Inspection of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Part I: Crawler Technology Development

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/PVP/PVP2021/volume/85314

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