Sampling Tools for Contaminated Hot Cells and Remotely Accessed Tanks

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in collaboration with the Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi, Georgia have developed and tested technologies that facilitate sampling of contaminated areas inside hot cell facilities. Sampling locations in the facility include drains, ventilation exhaust ducts, sumps and shielded waste tanks. Tools designed for sampling these locations must have the ability to be introduced into existing ports, pass-throughs or inter-cells trolley and be compatible with the existing remote manipulators. Areas inside the hot cell facility that would likely be contaminated from chemically processing irradiated reactor targets or fuel, despite decontamination efforts, have been identified as high value sampling locations. Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi, Georgia has a reactor, hot cells, glove boxes and storage facilities that have been used to develop and test hot cell sampling technologies. These facilities are uncontaminated with radiological material and provide the ability to test these sampling technologies on representative equipment without risk to people or tools. Prototype tools have been fabricated and tested at these facilities using simulants representative of radiological contamination and waste.