| Client | West Valley Nuclear Services Co. |
| Facility | DOE Demonstration Site |
| Location | West Valley, NY |
West Valley VF Remote Manipulator System
S.A.Robotics designed and fabricated a Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to support dismantlement and decontamination of the Vitrification Facility (VF) at the West Valley Demonstration Site.
The VF-RMS reaches wall penetrations, bolt locations, and piping systems in offset areas and includes the following:
- A gantry that rolls on existing overhead bridge rolls.
- Two telescoping carbon fiber masts that travel independently on the gantry beams and rotate 340 degrees.
- Two manipulators, each with 5 degrees of freedom, attached at the bottom of each mast.
- Necessary quick disconnect end effectors to effectively decommission and decontaminate the vitrification cell.
The VF-RMS is a general purpose full reach manipulator system that carries a variety of end effectors to all areas of the cell. End effectors include: grippers, saws, radiation detectors, impact wrenches, and decontamination equipment.
The VF RMS arms are designed with 5 degrees of freedom as follows:
Grip Saw End Effector
- Shoulder Rotate – 340 degrees
- Shoulder Tilt – 180 degrees
- Forearm Rotate – 180 degrees
- Wrist Tilt – 180 degrees
- Wrist Rotate – 340 degrees.
Each mast will telescope to a length of 40 feet with an additional 10 feet of reach with the carbon fiber forearm assembly. Each manipulator can lift 200 pounds and a 5 degree of freedom high capacity forearm can lift 1000 pounds directly below the mast.
VF Remote Manipulators Installed
The VF-RMS is operated with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) using a control console mounted outside of the Vitrification Cell. The control consoles have a touch screen control, two joysticks, camera operations, and two monitors. Each arm has three mounted cameras that display on the control consoles.
This project was designed and assembled in accordance with S.A. Robotics’ NQA-1 Quality Assurance Program.
The West Valley Demonstration site was used to process high level liquid waste by encapsulating it into borosilicate glass. Since background dose rates in the cell have been measured to 40 R/hr, all size reduction and decontamination operations in the cell must be remote. West Valley Nuclear Services Company (WVNSCO) efforts to use an overhead process gantry crane to remotely decommission and decontaminate the cell were inadequate for removal of all components and for completing the effort on schedule. S.A.Robotics delivered this remote manipulator and gantry system with a firm fixed price and on an accelerated schedule.