Rancho Seco Vessel Decommissioning

Sellafield SIXEP

SIXEP Pipe Cropping Manipulator

S.A.Technology provided a Pipe Cropping Manipulator (PCM) to remotely cut riser pipes inside two 1000 m3 Bulk Storage Tanks (BSTs) in the British Nuclear Group’s Sellafield Ion eXchange Effluent Processing (SIXEP) facility. The PCM included a telescoping mast, Ultra High Pressure (UHP) Cutting Heads, pneumatic supply, video capability, simple joystick control panel and associated software.

The BSTs are used to settle out and store magnox sludge and their capacity was limited by increasing sludge levels. The PCM remotely cropped the lower section of five decant pipes within each BST, thereby successfully increasing their effective storage capacity.

S.A.Technology designed, developed, and deployed a pipe cropping manipulator (PCM) for the British Nuclear Group’s Sellafield Ion eXchange Effluent Processing (SIXEP) facility. These video demonstrate the technical process used to install and deploy the PCM equipment.

Telescoping mast included three carbon fiber tubes with two hydraulic cylinders.
Telescoping arm had horizontal reach of 20 feet.
Vertical motion of the mast was recoverable by use of a powered auxiliary winch.
The tubes were supported with Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene sliders
Performance: The PCM successfully cut pipes ranging from 1-1/2 to 4-inch
diameter, schedule 40, stainless steel, without damaging the adjacent tank walls
The mast was rotated via a mast rotate and slew ring assembly. Additionally, a
90 degree shoulder joint and bicep extension features allowed all pipes to be
accessed and cut while avoiding obstructions
Cutting operations were completed within a single shift in each of the two tanks
High pressure piping and tubing was routed via the PCM mast and along the top
of the manipulator bicep to the cropping head
The PCM was operator controlled with easy joystick and touch screen Human
Machine Interface controls. A programmable logic controller handled all interlock
and precision motion controls