Newton's Robotic Tank Inspection expands to Include Robotic Underwater Weld Vacuum Box Inspection
For many years Newton's robots have been performing Robotic Nuclear Tank Inspections and cleaning with Plate UT, Visual Inspection, Laser Scanning and Cleaning.
Since UT does not integrate the welds Newton has added Underwater Robotic Vacuum Box Inspection in order to confirm weld integrity. First deployed at a major utility in 2021 it adds complete inspection to CST inspection for both BWR and PWR reactors. The vacuum box is equipped with pressure gauge, cameras, and the technology to apply a vacuum pressure differential underwater. Utilizing these vacuum boxes the the Newton Team was able to identify susceptible areas in both the floor welds and the peripheral welds.
Newton's Robotic Tank Inspection can be used both On and Off Outage thus allowing significant flexibly in scheduling nuclear tank inspections.
The tank examination typically captures full UT and visual data from over 90 percent of the tank floor while the tank remains in-service and the plant online. Prior to the insertion of the robot, pre-engineering calculations are performed to ensure no degradation of the plant operating parameters and that the flows in the tank will not interfere with the inspection. Plant engineers can use the data from the complete tank floor for trending analysis over multiple inspections. With the Newton Robot's precise machine vision navigation system, the ability to return to re-inspect previously discovered defects is unsurpassed compared to spot UT checks captured by divers.
"The ability to perform in-service CST tank examinations off-outage is valuable to our customers and we're happy this work can be performed at a time that saves the plant time and money," said Newton Labs President John Bramblet, "The Newton Robot can be utilized year round to support plants' tank inspection and maintenance programs - on or off outage."
About Newton Labs
Seattle based Newton Labs is a privately held manufacturer of nuclear machine vision, laser scanning, robotics, and optical automation. Newton is the original developer of core verification systems and
nuclear underwater laser scanners; both systems won NEI TIP Awards. Newton is also the world’s largest producer of core verification systems and underwater laser scanners. Over its more than 20 year history,
Newton Labs has deployed more than 30,000 machine vision, laser scanning, robotic, and automation systems worldwide.
For more details about Robotic Underwater Weld Vacuum Box Inspection please contact:
