Sellafield, where most of the UK’s nuclear material is stored, has endorsed TANICS™ – a new automated, robotic welding solution for the nuclear industry. TANICS™, a joint venture between engineering businesses, Jacobs and Langfields, delivers a high integrity butt weld that achieves Sellafield Build Level Quality 1 and PD5500 first time every time for the safe long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel.
Jacobs has learned a great deal from working on the transportation of unirradiated fuels from Dounreay and other licensed sites and now, working with Langfields Ltd, it has developed TANICS– The Automated Nuclear Irradiated Container Solution – a remote welding system for use in high radiation environments.
To avoid the need for repackaging at the storage location, highly radioactive material must be transported in sealed stainless steel 316L containers, which are usually welded to provide a robust and predictable lifetime seal. Because of the hazardous nature of the material in the containers, all welding and subsequent inspection must be carried out remotely. TANICS is a complete package capable of delivering a high-integrity weld and associated qualification for scalable containers in accordance with PD5500 and Sellafield Ltd Build Level 1.
“The welds produced using TANICS were independently qualified in the UK and Germany and have now been endorsed by specialists from Sellafield Ltd. This shows that the system has the potential to set a new benchmark for automated welding in the nuclear industry,” said Langfields Projects Director Wayne Griffiths.
“We have been sealing nuclear transport and storage containers for the Dounreay site for several years” said Jacobs Mechanical Engineer Martin Hooley. “Working with Langfields, we have developed a method of carrying this activity out remotely using robots. Currently there are no other systems capable of being deployed on a client’s site to do this work. So, as a fully deliverable solution, TANICS is first-of-a-kind.”
TANICS has been designed with safety and quality assurance as paramount considerations.
Automated industrial robots are commonplace, especially in the automotive industry, but they are not suitable for nuclear applications because they perform stitch welds, not the closure welds required on stainless steel radioactive material containers. Nor do they use the tungsten inert gas welding process needed to ensure the highest quality result.
The TANICS inspection robot is fitted with cameras and an eddy current inspection system, so operators can see footage of the entire weld from different angles to assess the weld profile. Quality control is underpinned by data management, with all data and communications protected by a high-grade cyber security system.
The solution is an effective and efficient means of achieving the required quality of weld, without putting people in harms way. This innovation, developed to meet the requirements of the UK’s nuclear decommissioning mission, has the potential for export to other nuclear markets, supporting the export and jobs ambitions of the UK’s Nuclear Sector Deal.