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8/7/2015 A robotic future for nuclear fusion Power Technology http://www.powertechnology.com/features/featurearoboticfuturefornuclearfusion4631075/#.VcQvh8h0j4I.twitter 1/4 In May, it was announced that Amec Foster Wheeler will develop a remote handling system for the ITER fusion reactor in France. The sevenyear robotics contract will focus on a system that can handle hazardous and sensitive materials remotely, all with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a future power source. Amec Foster Wheeler was awarded the contract by Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU organisation responsible for Europe's contribution to ITER, which is the world's biggest fusion energy project. The company's system, officially known as the Neutral Beam Cell Remote Handling System, is the largest nuclear robotics contract awarded by F4E to a UK company to date. Amec Foster Wheeler will lead the project with support from a host of other specialists, including the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (the UK's national fusion research laboratory), Reel SAS of France and Walischmiller Engineering GmbH of Germany. As the project begins to move through the concept phase along its lengthy path, Jon Montgomerie, chief engineer at the European Remote Handling Alliance (ERHA), an Amec Foster Wheeler cooperative contracting arrangement, discusses the origin of the idea and how it will work in practice. Gary Peters: Can you talk me through Amec Foster Wheeler's expertise in the area of using robotics for energy and nuclear fusion? Jon Montgomerie: The nuclear fission industry has used remote handling in one form or another right from its inception, as it was known from the start that there were some situations where materials handling requirements could not be met safely using a human operator with conventional tools. Gradually, technology has evolved to better meet these needs, starting with simple tongs operated through a ball joint in a shielding wall up to the electronically controlled robotic devices we are developing today. This specialised sphere of expertise can be called nuclear remote handling (RH) or robotics, and we have a number of experts in this field with expertise and past experience of nuclear RH work. The company itself has delivered quite a few projects over the years in nuclear RH, with a rise in recent years partly fuelled by an increase in remote interventions needed by one of our major clients to address emergent issues, often agerelated, with its fleet of nuclear power stations. In recent years, Amec Foster Wheeler's nuclear business has had an average turnover in Nuclear RH of around £5m per year, so the Neutral Beam Remote Handling System contract, at €70m over seven years, represents a major step forward for us. A robotic future for nuclear fusion 2 6 August 2015 Gary Peters Power Technology Market & Customer Insight Log In Request Demo About Market & Customer Insight

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Case for robotics in nuclear fusion

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8/7/2015 AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnologyhttp://www.powertechnology.com/features/featurearoboticfuturefornuclearfusion4631075/#.VcQvh8h0j4I.twitter 1/4InMay,itwasannouncedthatAmecFosterWheelerwilldeveloparemotehandlingsystemfortheITERfusionreactorinFrance.Thesevenyearroboticscontractwillfocusonasystemthatcanhandlehazardousandsensitivematerialsremotely,allwiththeaimofdemonstratingthefeasibilityofnuclearfusionasafuturepowersource.AmecFosterWheelerwasawardedthecontractbyFusionforEnergy(F4E),theEUorganisationresponsibleforEurope'scontributiontoITER,whichistheworld'sbiggestfusionenergyproject.Thecompany'ssystem,officiallyknownastheNeutralBeamCellRemoteHandlingSystem,isthelargestnuclearroboticscontractawardedbyF4EtoaUKcompanytodate.AmecFosterWheelerwillleadtheprojectwithsupportfromahostofotherspecialists,includingtheCulhamCentreforFusionEnergy(theUK'snationalfusionresearchlaboratory),ReelSASofFranceandWalischmillerEngineeringGmbHofGermany.Astheprojectbeginstomovethroughtheconceptphasealongitslengthypath,JonMontgomerie,chiefengineerattheEuropeanRemoteHandlingAlliance(ERHA),anAmecFosterWheelercooperativecontractingarrangement,discussestheoriginoftheideaandhowitwillworkinpractice.GaryPeters:CanyoutalkmethroughAmecFosterWheeler'sexpertiseintheareaofusingroboticsforenergyandnuclearfusion?JonMontgomerie:Thenuclearfissionindustryhasusedremotehandlinginoneformoranotherrightfromitsinception,asitwasknownfromthestartthatthereweresomesituationswherematerialshandlingrequirementscouldnotbemetsafelyusingahumanoperatorwithconventionaltools.Gradually,technologyhasevolvedtobettermeettheseneeds,startingwithsimpletongsoperatedthroughaballjointinashieldingwalluptotheelectronicallycontrolledroboticdeviceswearedevelopingtoday.Thisspecialisedsphereofexpertisecanbecallednuclearremotehandling(RH)orrobotics,andwehaveanumberofexpertsinthisfieldwithexpertiseandpastexperienceofnuclearRHwork.ThecompanyitselfhasdeliveredquiteafewprojectsovertheyearsinnuclearRH,withariseinrecentyearspartlyfuelledbyanincreaseinremoteinterventionsneededbyoneofourmajorclientstoaddressemergentissues,oftenagerelated,withitsfleetofnuclearpowerstations.Inrecentyears,AmecFosterWheeler'snuclearbusinesshashadanaverageturnoverinNuclearRHofaround5mperyear,sotheNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystemcontract,at70moversevenyears,representsamajorstepforwardforus.Aroboticfuturefornuclearfusion26August2015GaryPetersPowerTechnologyMarket&CustomerInsightLogIn RequestDemo AboutMarket&CustomerInsight8/7/2015 AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnologyhttp://www.powertechnology.com/features/featurearoboticfuturefornuclearfusion4631075/#.VcQvh8h0j4I.twitter 2/4Nuclearpowergoodforbiodiversity?Seventyfiveacademicshavecalledforalargerrolefornuclearinthefutureenergymix.GP:HowdidthepremiseofaremotehandlingsystemfortheITERfusionreactorinFrancecomeabout?JM:ITERwill,inverysimpleterms,recreatethereactionthatisgoingoninthecentreofthesunheldwithinavacuumandconstrainedbylargemagneticfields.Thiscreatesanenvironmentthatpersonnelcannotaccess,andthereforeremotehandlingsystemsneedtobecreatedtoallowallsortsoftaskstobeperformed.TheNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystemisoneofthesesystems.Conceptsforthesevarioussystemshavebeendevelopedforanumberofyearsbythescientificcommunity,andwearenowatthestageoftheITERprojectoftakingtheseconceptdesignsandmakingthemreal,sothattheycanactuallybebuilt.GP:Diggingdeeperintothespecifics,howwillthesystembeoperated?JM:Overtheprojectedsevenyeardevelopmentanddeliveryphase,ERHAwillneedtoinvolvehundredsofpeoplewithskillsrangingfromthoseoftheprojectdirectorthroughtothespecialistengineerswithskillsinrobotics,liftingsystems,specialistcuttingandothertoolsystems,controlsystem,visionsystems,andsoon,rightthroughtothecraftsmendeliveringtheprecisionmanufacturingnecessarytobuildthistypeofequipmentandthensafelyandsuccessfullyinstallandcommissionit.Onceinstalledandcommissioned,thesystemwillbeoperatedbyITERstaff,trainedbyus,workingfromacontrolroomsafelyshieldedfromtheenvironmentoftheNeutralBeamcell,andabout100mawayfromit.Alloperationswillbenotonlycarriedoutremotelybutalsoviewedremotelythatistosay,therewillbenodirectviewthroughwindowsorwhatever.MonitoringoperationswillbeentirelybyCCTVandotherelectronicmonitoringsystems.Interestingly,fromourpastexperienceweknowthateventhehumblemicrophonecanbeahugelyvaluableinstrumentinallowingRHoperatorstounderstandwhattheequipmentisdoingandhowitisperforming,buttherewillofcoursebemanymoresophisticatedinstrumentsgeneratingdatatoguidetheoperatorsintheirwork.GP:Whatwillbethecoreresponsibilitiesofthesystem?JM:Asthenameimplies,theNeutralBeamRemoteHandlingSystemworksintheNeutralBeamCell,providingforallmaintenanceactivitiestobecarriedoutfromandincludingtheopeningoftheshieldedcoversontheneutralbeamlines.Eachoftheselinestherewillbethreeorfourisaroundthesizeofasmallbus,andiscrammedwithcomplexequipmentworkingatuptoamillionvolts.Provisionneedstobemadetodisconnectandchangeoutthevariousmodulesinsidethatallowthebeamlinestowork.Essentiallyitmustbepossibletocompletelystripouttheentirecontentsofthebeamlinevesselstoanemptyshellandthenreassemblecompletely,allwithoutanymanaccesstothecell.CommontomostothernuclearRHsystems,itmustalsobepossibletorecoverfromanypostulatedfaultscenario,againwithoutany'manaccess'tothecell,soeachmachineneedssystemsdesignedintoitforrecovery,andmethodsforremotelychangingovertothemsothatafailedpieceofequipmentcanberetrievedremotelyandrepaired.GP:Whatbenefitswillitprovide?JM:EssentiallyitwouldbeimpossibletooperatetheNeutralBeamCellwithouttheRHsystem,andwithouttheNBcellitwouldbeimpossibletooperateITER.Thereareseveralothersystemsintheplantthathaveasimilaressentialnature,inthattheareastheyworkinareentirelynonaccessible,yetcontaincomponentsandsystemsvitaltothefunctioningoftheITERplant.GP:Whatchallengesexistwhentryingtodeveloparemote8/7/2015 AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnologyhttp://www.powertechnology.com/features/featurearoboticfuturefornuclearfusion4631075/#.VcQvh8h0j4I.twitter 3/4"Onceinstalledandcommissioned,thesystemwillbeoperatedbyITERstaff,trainedbyus,workingfromacontrolroomsafelyshieldedfromtheenvironmentoftheNeutralBeamcell."handlingsystemforsuchatask?JM:Itisobviouslyourprimeintentiontoutiliseexistingtechnologicalbuildingblockswhereverpossiblewedon'twanttoreinventthewheel!Allthesame,therearesomespecifictechnicalissuesthatareneworatleastsomewhatnovel,andanearlypartoftheworkistoidentifytheseandcarryoutthenecessaryR&Dtoconvertthese'technicaluncertainties'intotriedandtestedtechnologythatwecandeploywithconfidence.ThisisparticularlycrucialforITERbecause,toagreaterextentthanmostothernuclearplants,itwillbehugelydependantonitsRemoteHandlingsystems,someofwhichiftheyfailedcouldbringthewholeplanttoastandstill.Inparticular,thereareanumberoftoolsthatneedtobedevelopedfortherobotstodeploy,fortheremotecutting,weldingandinspectingofpipework,alltoaveryhighstandard.Remotecuttingandweldinghavebeendonebefore,butthechallengesofdifficultaccess,constrainedspace,limitedconnectivityandextremelyhighstandardstobeachievedmeanthatthesetoolswillneedtobeabsolutelycuttingedge.Onamacroscale,thedeploymentoftherobotsystemsandtheirtoolsrequiresdeploymentmachineswithreachdistancesandnumberofdegreesoffreedomthatarerareevenwithrelativelysimpleRHsystems.Thesesystemsmustreachalongwayintoawkwardspacesandachieveaveryhighqualityofworkallinall,afairlychallengingnuclearenvironment.GP:Howwilltheremotehandlingsystemhelpdemonstratethetechnicalfeasibilityofnuclearfusionasafuturepowersource?JM:ThefeasibilityoffusionasanenergysourcewillbeverifiedbythefunctioningoftheITERexperimentitself,andultimatelyprovenbythefollowupplantDEMO,whichwillbetheworld'sfirstprototypeFusionPowerStation.But,asnotedbefore,certainaspectsofthefunctioningoftheITERplantwouldbeimpossiblewithoutthesophisticatedRHsystemsweareworkingon,andassuchtheyarepartofthatproofthatfusioncan,intheend,provideasustainableenergysourceforthefuture.GP:Howimportantaredevelopmentssuchasthesetonuclearfusionandindeedenergyasawhole?JM:ThesuccessfulfunctioningoftheseRHsystemsisvitaltotheoperationoftheITERplantitself,andtheirsuccessorswillbeequallyvitaltotheoperationofDEMO,andhencetotheveryfutureoffusionasaviableenergysource.Morebroadly,sincetheworkingenvironmentsaresimilar,thereishugepotentialforthetechnology,knowledgeandexperiencegeneratedontheseprojectstotransferbackintothefissionindustryfromwherealmostalltheexpertiseoriginallycame.ThemoreextremechallengesposedbytheITERRemoteHandlingsystemsisforcingnuclearRHtechnologyforwardatamuchacceleratedpace,makingnewapproachesthenavailableto[the]widernuclearindustry,potentiallyimprovingefficiencyandeffectivenessinallkindsofotherapplications.WealreadyhaveasmallR&DcontractinsupportofFukushima,andthisisjustoneexample,albeitawellknownone,ofwhereimprovementsinnuclearremotehandlingandroboticscouldhavehugebenefits.Ashotfromavirtualpositionwithinthebeamsource,whichshowsthebeamsourceremotehandlingequipment.8/7/2015 AroboticfuturefornuclearfusionPowerTechnologyhttp://www.powertechnology.com/features/featurearoboticfuturefornuclearfusion4631075/#.VcQvh8h0j4I.twitter 4/4ThismanipulatorwillbeusedonthebeamsourceremotehandlingequipmentBSRHEandbeamlinetransporters.Themonorailcraneisusedtoremotelyaccessthecellforallequipment.AmecFosterWheelerwillnowdeveloparemotehandlingsystemoverasevenyearproject.


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