Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) Measuring Robot

Designed for Use in BWR Vessels 

The Upper RPV Measuring Robot enables BWR reactor operators to precisely scan, image and measure the sidewall and peripheral horizontal areas above the steam separator.

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The RPV robot, developed and manufactured by Newton Labs, is deployed during an outage in a boiling water reactor (BWR) after the steam dryer has been removed. The system provides precise, non-contact measurements and high resolution imaging of features on the vertical sidewall and the outer periphery horizontal areas.

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The measuring head, attached to the end of an extendable arm, houses multiple sensors, an underwater laser scanner and multiple high-resolution imagers. The counter-balanced camera arm is attached to a rotational gearbox hub at the end of a 15 ft. (4.6 m) tall mast which is controlled by a vertical gearbox. The robot is capable of precision movement in elevation, rotation and features a two-position extension of the camera arm.

Deployment

Once onsite for a BWR outage and after removal of the steam dryer, the vertical operation gearbox, mast and arm of the RPV robot is secured and centered over the open reactor on an owner-provided structure approximately 4 ft. (1.2 m) above the vessel flange.

Operation Overview

In operation, the robot begins at zero degrees and full height and begins to rotate, collecting and storing data as it goes. Once the initial upper cycle is complete, the mast gearbox lowers the mast and boom to the next vertical index position to repeat the scanning/data collection cycle. This continues until the entire vessel and outer upper perimeter of the horizontal steam separator is imaged.standpipe tops in the outer perimeter ​