Development of a remote inspection system for spent-nuclear-fuel dissolvers in the Tokai Reprocessing plant

Terunuma, Tomohiro ; Ozeki, Tatsuya ; Iwasaki, Shogo

After spent fuel is chopped mechanically, the pieces of spent fuel are dissolved with high temperature nitric acid in a dissolver. Uranium, plutonium and fission products dissolved in this solution are separated through extraction process, respectively. Although the dissolver is made of stainless steel, corrosion might occur because the dissolver is always exposed to high temperature nitric acid and the nitric acid hume, etc. The dissolver is installed in a hot cell where is under high radiation environment, and it is difficult for operators it to approach. Therefore, the remote-controlled equipment has been developed to repair and inspect the dissolver.