MOBILE ROBOTS FOR USE IN NUCLEAR-FACILITI ES

The radiation exposure encountered in revisions and demolitions of som e areas of nuclear facilities requires the use of remotely operated te chnical systems in order to avoid the personnel bring exposed in the c ourse of such work. The main activities conducted within such areas in clude inspecting, measuring, cleaning, cutting, and handling. The Inst itute for Materials Research (IW) of the University of Hanover, with i ts twenty years of experience in basic and application-oriented resear ch and development in the field of thermal cutting, especially in plas ma fusion cutting, and ten years of development of remotely operated h andling systems, offers its services as a partner in solving these pro blems in nuclear plants. Besides stationary systems, IW has developed also mobile roots and manipulators able to move largely autonomously u nder remote control within a certain area.