Decommissioning Robot Needs A Good Home

["Urciuolo, Louis" <lurciuolo@state.pa.us>]

Our director, David Allard, asked if the following message could be posted.   





Remotely Operated Robotic System For Sale



A robot system designed and successfully used for a hot cell D&D remediation is for sale.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the robot to be used in a highly contaminated hot cell at the state-owned Quehanna facility in north central PA.  The system package consists of the "Houdini" track driven robot vehicle with a "Predator" manipulator arm, 50' tether, hydraulic power unit (HPU) with a power distribution enclosure (PDE), various tooling and control station equipment.  Scientech, Inc., the state's D&D contractor, used the robot to dismantle a highly contaminated steel process box, and a network of pipes and tanks containing large quantities of high specific activity Sr-90.  The robot was designed to independently interface with various tools that enabled the operator to cut apart the steel walls of the process box exposing the tubing and tanks.  The robot did a radiation survey of the large array of steel tubes, and marked hot spots, prior to crimping and cutting 

into small pieces.  Following staff training, tooling design, and mock-up work, the robot was highly successful in completing its required tasks.  The robot is contaminated with Sr-90, but initial decontamination efforts have reduced the contamination levels significantly.



If you are interested in obtaining more information about the robot and the decommissioning at Quehanna, please visit the Quehanna website by going to www.dep.state.pa.us <http://www.dep.state.pa.us> and typing in keyword Quehanna.  A short video of the robot at work and a flyer with contact information can be found under the Robotics with Video link.