AIKEN, S.C. - The management and operations contractor at the Savannah River Site joined EM’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to modify a one-of-a-kind robotic recovery crawler for different uses instead of buying a new one, saving about $500,000 in taxpayer dollars.
The crawler - a remotely powered and controlled vehicle - inspects hazardous areas in H Canyon’s exhaust system. For years, SRS has used the crawler as a safe inspection method in the system’s harsh environment with radiation, contamination, chemical and physical hazards and high air flow.
“The crawler program has proven to be a safe and effective way to inspect the facility exhaust system," Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) Exhaust Tunnel Inspection Project Manager Bill Giddings said. “The crawler program team decided to modify the existing crawler this year instead of procuring a new crawler. This decision saved approximately $500,000."
The existing crawler was originally designed for recovery and inspection, and it successfully completed those activities during the last evaluation of the exhaust tunnel. Some modifications completed this year included replacing the front end’s forks, used for recovery, with a bucket. The bucket allows the crawler to be used as a front-end loader to remove debris from the tunnel path, creating a better surface for future crawler inspections. Other modifications included improving stability through a counter-weight replacement and adding additional video capability.
The crawler modifications took three months to complete. Giddings credits hard-working SRNS and SRNL employees with the successful completion.
“We couldn’t have done it without the cooperation of our teams," he said. “SRS is truly lucky to have such an experienced, committed and talented workforce."
The H Canyon exhaust system is used to contain and direct the exhaust air flow from the canyon process areas to the sand filter system. That system removes the radionuclide particles from the air stream prior to release of the air to the environment.
H Canyon was built to produce nuclear materials to support the nation’s defense weapons systems. Today, it helps eliminate or minimize nuclear materials through safe stabilization and disposition.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
