CRBRP: Fuel Handling

1981? film, with transcript

Catalog description: Fuel handling equipment for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project.

This is film 7479943 in our catalog.

Show transcript
00:00 The Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project began in June 1970 when the United States Congress
00:24 authorized the Atomic Energy Commission to undertake the design, construction and operations
00:29 of the nation's first liquid metal fast breeder reactor demonstration plant.
00:35 The project was established with the principal objectives of,
00:39 first, demonstrating that the liquid metal fast breeder can operate reliably and safely,
00:45 and, second, demonstrating the economics of the fast breeder reactor cycle.
00:53 This is the Clinch River, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
00:57 future site of the Clinch River Fast Breeder reactor.
01:01 This 1364 acre site is owned by the United States government
01:06 and is managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
01:11 The Clinch River Reactor is a sodium-cooled, fast breeder nuclear power plant
01:17 designed for a net electrical output of 350 megawatts.
01:22 The major systems of the plant are the reactor, heat transport, steam generator and feed water systems, turbine generator, fuel
01:39 handling system and various auxiliary systems required to support plant
01:44 operation and maintenance. In a joint effort by government, utilities and
01:50 industry, the design, development and fabrication of the plant and its
01:54 components are well underway. Project participants from industry include the
02:00 Atomics International Division of the Rockwell International Energy Systems
02:03 Group, Westinghouse, General Electric, Burns and Rowe, and Stone and Webster. One
02:11 of Atomics International's responsibilities is the design and
02:15 procurement of the reactor fuel handling system and associated components. The
02:21 The reactor system requires periodic refueling, nominally once a year to replenish the supply
02:26 of fuel.
02:28 The fuel handling system provides the facilities and equipment necessary to accomplish the
02:33 yearly refueling operations and all associated functions, such as fuel handling within the
02:39 reactor vessel, fuel handling and storage outside the vessel, and shipping and receiving
02:44 operations on site.
02:48 handling operations take place in two buildings the containment building which houses the reactor
02:54 and the service building which contains fuel handling facilities and ancillary equipment
03:01 equipment and facilities located in the reactor containment building are limited to those involved
03:07 with fuel handling inside the reactor during shutdown they include the in-vessel transfer
03:13 machine referred to as IVTM for moving fuel within the reactor vessel and the
03:19 auxiliary handling machine or AHM for installing and removing the IVTM. The
03:28 IVTM is mounted on the smallest of the triple rotatable plugs which form the
03:33 closure head of the reactor. By rotating the three plugs the IVTM can be located
03:41 over any core position in the reactor.
03:46 The IVTM can then withdraw a spent assembly from the core
03:51 or insert a new assembly by vertical motions and grappling action.
04:00 Lateral movement of the core assembly within the reactor vessel
04:04 is accomplished by translation of the rotatable flux.
04:11 The majority of the fuel handling equipment and facilities is in the reactor service building,
04:26 which is adjacent to the reactor containment building.
04:31 Fuel handling facilities and equipment located in the service building include a sodium-filled
04:36 storage tank for temporary storage of spent fuel, a fuel handling cell for inspection
04:42 and handling of spent fuel assemblies, and facilities for receiving new fuel and for
04:48 shipping spent fuel.
04:52 The X-Vessel Storage Tank, or EZST, is a 20 foot diameter by 45 foot deep sodium vessel.
05:01 contains a two-tier rotatable turntable capable of holding 650 fuel assemblies.
05:07 The assemblies are stored in sodium-filled pots with two pots stacked
05:12 one above the other in each storage tube. Access to the storage positions is
05:18 obtained through nine openings in the closure head. The turntable is rotated to
05:23 gain access to each storage position in each row. The storage tank also contains
05:30 a number of dry argon gas-filled preheat tubes located in the upper tiers where
05:36 cold assemblies are placed for preheating prior to immersion in the hot
05:39 sodium. The fuel handling cell is a small hot cell with three stations, a
05:46 maintenance station, a fuel examination station, and a spent fuel loading station.
05:53 Selected fuel assemblies can be visually inspected and dimensionally measured in
05:58 this facility. In addition, spent fuel assemblies are prepared for shipment off-site. Prior to loading
06:06 operations, a shipping cask is positioned and sealed below an opening in the floor of the cell.
06:12 The fuel assembly can now be transferred to the cask through the floor opening.
06:19 In addition to the equipment and facilities located in the containment and service buildings,
06:24 fuel movement between buildings and facilities is accomplished using the Ex-vessel Transfer Machine,
06:30 or EVTM, a heavily shielded and cooled transfer machine mounted on a gantry.
06:37 The EVTM has a central eight inch diameter cavity for carrying a fuel assembly. This cavity
06:44 contains an argon atmosphere. Due to their negligible heat production new fuel assemblies
06:50 are handled bare, but spent fuel must be carried in sodium filled pots to
06:55 adequately cool the fuel assembly. The sequence for handling fuel begins with
07:02 the arrival of new fuel on site in lightly shielded containers. Once the
07:08 containers and their contents have been checked, a shipping container is placed
07:12 in one of the two new fuel unloading stations by the service building crane.
07:21 Here the shipping container atmosphere is changed from air to argon.
07:26 After the container has been inerted, the EVTM picks up the assembly and transfers it to a
07:32 special preheat station in the EDST where it is preheated in argon to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
07:39 After preheat is complete, the assembly is transferred by the EVPM from the preheat
07:46 station to a sodium-filled pot in one of the storage positions in the EVST. The fuel remains
07:53 in this position until the reactor is shut down and made ready for replacement of fuel assemblies.
07:58 After reactor shutdown, refueling preparations begin by removal of the large diameter equipment
08:05 hatch to allow movement between the containment and service building. Also, the IVTM is then
08:12 installed in the reactor head by means of the AHM and the building crane.
08:35 Floor valves are positioned over access openings to the reactor and the ex-vessel storage tank.
08:43 The reactor is now ready to be refueled.
08:47 The IVTM, in conjunction with the rotatable plug, removes the spent fuel assembly from
08:53 the core and deposits it in an empty pot located in a transfer position outside the core but
09:00 still within the reactor vessel.
09:02 At the same time, the EVTM removes the new fuel assembly from the EVST and transports
09:09 the assembly to the reactor.
09:12 By sealing the EVTM to a special port in the head of the reactor, the EVTM can lower the
09:18 new fuel assembly into a second transfer position in the reactor, within reach of the IVTM.
09:25 During the same attachment operation to the reactor head, the EVTM removes the spent fuel
09:31 assembly in the first transfer position.
09:36 While the EVTM transports the spent fuel to the storage vessel, the IVTM
09:42 completes the cycle by installing the new fuel assembly into the open core
09:47 lattice. These operations are repeated until the reactor core has been refueled.
09:56 When refueling is completed, the reactor is brought back online. After the spent
10:03 fuel in the storage tank has decayed for approximately 100 days, the assemblies
10:08 are ready to be shipped off-site. A fuel assembly is transferred by the EVTM in a
10:14 sodium-filled pot from the storage tank to the fuel handling cell.
10:26 The fuel assembly is removed from the pot by means of a gas-cooled grapple for loading into the shipping cask.
10:34 Capabilities exist in the cell to visually and dimensionally inspect the assembly.
10:40 A spent fuel shipping cask is brought into the service building by a special railroad car,
10:45 moved to a position beneath the fuel handling cell, and sealed to the loading port.
10:51 Fuel can now be transferred from the cell to the shipping cask.
10:57 When the cask is full, it is disconnected from the fuel handling cells, inspected for
11:02 conformance to shipping regulations, and then transported by a rail to a fuel reprocess.
11:11 The Quench River's fuel handling system is well on its way to becoming a reality.
11:17 The necessary development testing has been complete, as has most of the engineering design.
11:26 Many of the major fuel handling components are being fabricated and some are presently being proof tested.
11:38 The IVTM was designed and fabricated by Atomics International at Canoga Park, California.
11:46 Component tests were conducted between 1974 and 1977 to support the IVTM design phase.
11:53 These tests included environmental testing of the grapple drive rod seals, performance testing of
12:02 the drive motor, braking system and gear trains, and kinematic testing of the grapple under adverse
12:08 conditions. Manufacturing began in August of 1977 with machining and assembly of the 43-foot long
12:17 in-vessel sub-assembly on the grapple. A drive tower structure was fabricated to
12:25 house the grapple actuator mechanism. Assembly of pneumatic and electrical
12:30 components on the equipment bay structure completed the last major
12:34 sub assembly. In May of 1979, the major sub-assemblies were delivered to the
12:45 the Energy Technology and Engineering Center located at Rockwell International's Santa
12:50 Susana Field Laboratory. Here, the IVTM was assembled into a 65-foot high machine to undergo
12:59 a testing program which would be equivalent to five complete core refuelers. The testing
13:08 program was divided into two stages. The first stage, completed in July of 1979, was a dry
13:16 checkout to verify the IVTM's capability to withdraw and insert the core assemblies through
13:22 the full range of misalignments and loads expected during refueling operations. The
13:28 second stage, performance testing the IVTM in a hot sodium environment, will begin in
13:34 November of 1979. During this stage the IVTM computer controls will be checked
13:40 out concurrently with the testing of the machines. After the IVTM has completed
13:46 its performance test, it will undergo any necessary refurbishment and then will be
13:51 shipped to the Oak Ridge site. After extensive developmental testing of key
13:58 features of the EVTM, final design was completed and procurement was initiated.
14:05 In 1973 and 1974, several small-scale tests investigated important heat
14:12 transfer parameters. These tests supported preliminary design decisions.
14:18 And in 1975, a full-scale test with a cooling system, cast body internals, and
14:26 and an electrically simulated fuel assembly confirmed the final design.
14:32 Currently, all long-lead forgings and castings for the EVTM are on hand,
14:38 including the grapple drive housing and cover, upper support module, viewport housing,
14:44 drift pan housing, closure valve body, and other major modules.
14:50 Once the remaining EVTM components have been manufactured
14:54 and the grapple and grapple drive proof test completed,
14:58 these sub-assemblies are scheduled to be shipped to a test site in Oak Ridge
15:01 for final performance testing of the full assembled machines.
15:06 The EVST, which is used for the storage of fuel assemblies, is well into fabrication.
15:12 The storage vessel and components were designed by Atomics International
15:17 and subcontracted to a wide range of industrial concerns for fabrication.
15:22 Four forgings were procured and delivered to Babcock and Wilcox, who will fabricate the major components.
15:30 The storage vessel support plan required one of the largest forgings made by Lavish Company at their Wisconsin plant.
15:38 Starting with a 336,000 pound heated steel engine, the general shape was formed by ring forging machines and then quenched in a water pool.
15:47 followed by tempering the steel in a heat-treating furnace.
15:53 The forging was then rough-machined to its 24-foot diameter
15:57 and delivered to Babcock and Wilcox's Mount Vernon, Indiana plant
16:02 for final machining and assembly.
16:04 At the Babcock and Wilcox plant, other EVST parts have been fabricated and assembled.
16:12 Steel plates have been rolled and welded into shell cores.
16:15 The vessel bottom head has been formed from smaller shaped pieces and final machined to
16:23 a smooth dished head.
16:26 The turntable grid plates for support of the 330 storage tubes have been drilled and machined
16:33 and the vessel closure head is presently being final machined.
16:40 Other EVST components are being fabricated by industry.
16:44 completion of these components they will be assembled with the Babcock and
16:48 Wilcox vessels for a final functional proof test before delivery of the
16:53 completed vessel to the Clink River site.
17:00 The fuel handling cell components are in various stages of design and development.
17:06 The in-cell crane, Howard manipulator and the master slave manipulators have
17:12 completed fabrication and have been tested at the Santa Susana Laboratories.
17:17 The equipment performed satisfactorily under mock-up situations. In the future,
17:23 these components will be assembled in a mock-up structure of the handling cell
17:27 of Santa Susana. There they will be used to confirm the operation of the other
17:32 shell equipment. Several mock-up components will be built and tested to
17:37 provide design information before fabrication of plant hardware. After
17:43 equipment has been checked out, the mock-up will be disassembled and shipped
17:47 to the Oak Ridge site as an operator training device. The individual fuel
17:55 handling equipment must be controlled as an integrated system. To do this, an
18:00 overall refueling control system has been designed, which includes three
18:06 inter-communicating mini computer. These computers have been procured and the software program has
18:12 been designed to enable the computers to perform their individual and combined functions. Tests
18:19 are currently underway to demonstrate their overall performance capabilities.
18:25 Over 80 percent of the fuel handling equipment has been designed and most of the major components are
18:31 in the process of fabrication. Components fully designed and ready for fabrication include the AHM,
18:42 floor valves and adapters, the EZTM gantry, the fuel handling cell maintenance and examination
18:51 equipment, and miscellaneous storage facilities. Progress has been substantial.
18:59 Through extensive component testing to support the design phase,
19:03 followed by confirmatory proof testing of plant hardware, fuel handling system components are verified to be safe and reliable before delivery to the plant.
19:14 The Clinch River components are well on their way toward completing the project.