Development of inspection and repair techniques in reactor vessel of the experimental fast reactor "Joyo" and of visual inspection device to observe in-vessel structures

Saito, Takakazu; Imaizumi, Kazuyuki ; Oka, Kiyoshi; Aizawa, Hideyuki*; Katagiri, Genichi*

The experimental fast reactor Joyo is the first sodium cooled fast reactor in Japan. In-vessel visual inspections have been conducted with an obstacle on the in-vessel storage rack in Joyo. Because of the high radiation dose in the reactor vessel, radiation-resistant fiberscope was applied to Joyo. The radiation-resistant fiberscope was inserted into the reactor vessel thorough the inspection hole and fuel handling hole on rotating plugs. In order to observe the top of the subassemblies and in-vessel storage rack, an I-shape device which had a downward and side view monitoring radiation-resistant fiberscopes was used. To observe the bottom face of the upper core structure, a remote handling visual device whose tip could bend into an L-shape was developed to insert the radiation-resistant fiberscope into the 70 mm gap between the bottom of the upper core structure and the top of the subassemblies. The observations of the top of the subassemblies and in-vessel storage rack were conducted from October 2007 to February 2008. The bottom face of the upper core structure was observed in July 2008. The number of photographs of the entire bottom face of the upper core structure reached approximately 35,000. Confirmation was made that the remote handling device equipped with the radiation-resistant fiberscope would achieve the expected performance. These observations results provided useful information on incident investigations. In addition, fundamental findings and the experience gained during this study, which included the design of equipment, operating procedures, resolution, lighting adjustments, photograph composition and the durability of the radiation-resistant fiberscope under radiation exposure, provided valuable insights into possible further improvements and verifications for in-vessel visual observation techniques in an sodium fast reactor.