| Client | Fluor Corporation |
| Facility | DOE Hanford Site, K-Basin East |
| Location | Hanford, WA |
Hydrolasing Head
S.A.Robotics designed and fabricated Underwater Long Handled Tools to enable remote removal of debris from the bottom of the K Basin East Fuel Pool, located at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site.
As an example, a contaminated layer of concrete, in contact with Basin water, must be removed. This concrete is activated and precludes personnel access to the area if the water is drained from the basin. Therefore to allow the basin to be removed from service and drained, S.A.Robotics has designed, fabricated, tested, and supplied a remote underwater robotic arm system to remove the first ¾ in. of the concrete from the basin wall.
Concept to...
Creation in Four Months
An earlier S.A.Robotics project demonstrated that the removal of ¾ in. of concrete reduced the dose rate by a factor of ten. The Hydrolasing Robotic Arm uses ultra-high pressure (34,000 psi) water and a unique designed end effector to remove and collect the activated concrete. The hydrolasing robotic arm can reach all areas of the basin (120’ L x 45’ W x 20’ D).
The Hydrolasing robotic arm is deployed using an overhead gantry system installed above the K Basin East Pool. The gantry is designed to fit through 1½ inch slots in the grating located above the surface of the Basin. To keep the weight of the device to a minimum, S.A.Robotics used small diameter rods to enable better maneuverability. The overall reach of the Hydrolasing Robotic Arm is approximately 35 feet. The Hydrolasing Arm’s reach, coupled with its eight degrees of freedom of movement and two types of hydrolasing heads, provides the capability to reach all underwater concrete surfaces.
As part of the overall deliverable, S.A.Robotics provided a concrete debris collection system to collect all of the aggregate and fines generated by the hydrolasing process. Blast water and surrounding basin water is vacuumed into a collection shroud and processed through an underwater filtration system. The hydrolasing spoils are collected and packaged for disposal. This equipment and system was delivered with a firm fixed price contract basis.