Development of remote controlled ion milling device

Honda, Junichi; Matsui, Hiroki; Harada, Akio; Obata, Hiroki; Tomita, Takeshi

The advanced utilization of Light Water Reactor (LWR) fuel is progressed in Japan to save the power generating cost and the volume of nuclear wastes. The electric power companies have been continued the approach to extend the burnup and to rise up the thermal power of the commercial fuel. The government should be accumulating the detailed information of the newest technologies to make the regulations and guidelines for the safety of the advanced nuclear fuels. The ion milling for post irradiation examination has been developed in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to investigate cladding microstructure. This device has been modified to operate the high radioactive elements remotely and have the performance of earthquake resistant. This paper describes the specification of the device which were specialized for post irradiation examination and the test results of the cold mock-up to confirm their performances and reliabilities.