Bruce Power MCR Automated Inspection and CT Install Innovation

Abstract

Bruce Power is undergoing a Major Component Replacement (MCR) Project on 6 of its 8 reactors, with Unit 6 being the first reactor to be refurbished followed by Units 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The MCR project involves replacing and updating critical reactor components which include replacement of 960 Primary Heat Transport (PHT) feeders and associated feeder components, along with all 480 fuel channel assemblies and Calandria Tubes (CT). For Unit 3 MCR and future MCRs Bruce Power has opted to implement innovations to improve the efficiency of Candu reactor refurbishments. One such innovation is utilizing automated tooling to perform inspection and installation of calandria tubes (this project refers to these tooling as “Auto Inspect and Auto CT Install”). The auto tooling utilizes an Automated Delivery Table (ADT) that deploys tooling into reactor in conjunction with a 6-axis robot. The purpose of the 6-axis robot is to delivery End of Arm Tools (EOATs) into channel and perform operations which otherwise would be performed by a worker.