Idaho Successfully Tested Robot to Help Retrieve Radioactive Waste

New technology and equipment were tested at the Idaho National Laboratory to demonstrate the capability of remotely operated robotics to properly weld access points in the site’s Calcined Solids Storage Facilities. The robot successfully passed the tests.

Under an agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Idaho, all calcined waste must be removed from the state for permanent disposal. The DOE had previously converted liquid high-level radioactive waste—generated during spent nuclear fuel reprocessing at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center—into calcine.

The calcine was stored in large stainless-steel bins housed within six concrete vaults, referred to as bin sets, on the facility’s premises. Due to the design constraints of one particular vault, Bin Set 1, the retrieval process requires the installation of an access riser approximately 6 meters long and 20 centimeters in diameter.

During tests conducted on a full-scale replica of Bin Set 1, engineers and operators remotely controlled the robot from a centralized console to connect an access riser pipe segment to a steel plate and then cut through the plate.

In actual operation, the robot descends a 20-meter pipe and welds it to the storage bins. Once the welding is complete, the same robot is equipped with specialized tools to cut an opening in the storage bin at the welded connection point.

According to mechanical engineer Jeremiah Voss, the test results provided valuable insights for refining the robot’s design and preparing for the actual calcine retrieval process.

In the near future, the project team plans to conduct additional integrated tests to closely simulate real-world conditions for the robot’s operation.