Virtual Reality for Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors – R & D Magazine

Safely decommissioning any nuclear reactor is a challenge. However, how do you decommission a Cold War-era production nuclear reactor thats more than 60 years old? This is the problem that engineers are facing at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a 310 square mile Department of Energy site in rural South Carolina constructed in 1952 to help the U.S. produce nuclear weapons. The five reactors at SRS known as R, P, K, L, and C were once used to produce plutonium and tritium. When the Cold War ended, their products were no longer needed, and the last of them was operational in 1992. But the story doesnt end there. Closing nuclear reactors is a huge job that must be done properly, and this is the mission of the DOE Environmental Management Office. The work continues with planning for decommissioning of C Reactor.

What lies inside?

The P and R reactors were decommissioned simultaneously. The process included the removal of millions of gallons of water and the pouring of over 200,000 cubic yards of grout. To assist in the planning of this process, engineers and designers at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) reviewed thousands of construction drawings for the buildings and key pieces of equipment. The team quickly realized it was difficult to fully understand what was inside the reactors because the drawings were a guide for construction, organized by phase of construction and craft. This meant that there was no real map for what was inside the building, as there was no single drawing that could provide all of the relevant information for any given room.

To help provide the decommissioning team with a sense of space inside the reactors, the SRNL team created 3D CAD models and 3D printed models of the building structures and key equipment. Once completed, the printed models helped the team understand the building better because it presented the layers of data in a way that humans normally process datain three dimensions. Even engineers with years of experience need to interpret two dimensional drawings into a 3D image. When the information is spread across as many drawings, interpreting the data becomes a serious challenge.

The 3D printed models also improved the safety of the decommission teams on the ground. Every entry of workers into the facilities exposed them to various dangers; tripping hazards, heat stress, and radiation exposure. Having models available for review offsite reduced the number of walkdowns required in the actual buildings and allowed the teams to plan movements more effectively before entering the facilities.

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Virtual Reality for Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors - R & D Magazine