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The usual quip in the industry is that the remote maintenance is such a complicated robotics problem. that which ever company is able to solve it, is better off

The usual quip in the industry is that the remote maintenance is such a complicated robotics problem. that which ever company is able to solve it, is better off converting to a robotics company and just drive Kuka, Fanuc and ABB out of business.

ambicapter 7y ago
Is it a hard robotics problem or a hard radiation-hardening problem?
- TaylorAlexander 7y ago
  Completely robotically maintaining a complex machine sounds like a hard robotics problem to me. Of course it can be designed for machine manipulation but that seems like a pretty complex fusion of robotics and nuclear reactor design. So I think it would be a lot of work.
  - darkpuma 7y ago
    It seems to me that the simplest reactors tend to be the most dangerous. I'm thinking of the Windscale fire and SL-1 in particular. One of the theories for what went wrong at SL-1 is that it was a murder-suicide, caused by the man tasked with physically manipulating the control rods of the reactor. I think robotic control is better for something like that. Robots are more predictable. One of the aggravating factors at Windscale was their inability to perform maintenance tasks behind the reactor. They had canisters of radioactive material smashing open behind the reactor and it took them ages to even notice. That was a very simple reactor design; basically a nuclear pile. It was also an awful design that was irradiating England even before it caught fire.
    - tim333 7y ago
      The Windscale reactors were built in a hurry in 1950 to produce nuclear weapons after Russia managed to test it's first atom bomb in 1949 and are not really representative of modern power generating technology.
      - darkpuma 7y ago
        Obviously Windscale wasn't modern and SL-1 certainly wasn't either. My point was that simple designs are poor designs, that modern designs are complex for good reason. The added system complexity of automation is well worth it when it comes to nuclear power.
- Retric 7y ago
  Mostly hard robotics side. This is about replacing people and you don’t send people into heavy radiation areas. It’s like cleaning skyscraper windows, the overhead of keeping people safe is significantly more of an issue than just washing windows. Decontamination and radiation mostly make it more expensive rather than more difficult.
ajross 7y ago
Alternatively, get Tesla and Waymo to work on it.

ambicapter 7y ago

Is it a hard robotics problem or a hard radiation-hardening problem?

TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Completely robotically maintaining a complex machine sounds like a hard robotics problem to me. Of course it can be designed for machine manipulation but that seems like a pretty complex fusion of robotics and nuclear reactor design. So I think it would be a lot of work.
- darkpuma 7y ago
  It seems to me that the simplest reactors tend to be the most dangerous. I'm thinking of the Windscale fire and SL-1 in particular. One of the theories for what went wrong at SL-1 is that it was a murder-suicide, caused by the man tasked with physically manipulating the control rods of the reactor. I think robotic control is better for something like that. Robots are more predictable. One of the aggravating factors at Windscale was their inability to perform maintenance tasks behind the reactor. They had canisters of radioactive material smashing open behind the reactor and it took them ages to even notice. That was a very simple reactor design; basically a nuclear pile. It was also an awful design that was irradiating England even before it caught fire.
  - tim333 7y ago
    The Windscale reactors were built in a hurry in 1950 to produce nuclear weapons after Russia managed to test it's first atom bomb in 1949 and are not really representative of modern power generating technology.
    - darkpuma 7y ago
      Obviously Windscale wasn't modern and SL-1 certainly wasn't either. My point was that simple designs are poor designs, that modern designs are complex for good reason. The added system complexity of automation is well worth it when it comes to nuclear power.
Retric 7y ago
Mostly hard robotics side. This is about replacing people and you don’t send people into heavy radiation areas. It’s like cleaning skyscraper windows, the overhead of keeping people safe is significantly more of an issue than just washing windows. Decontamination and radiation mostly make it more expensive rather than more difficult.

ajross 7y ago

Alternatively, get Tesla and Waymo to work on it.