[Courtesy of KEPCO KPS]
SEOUL -- KEPCO KPS, a South Korean public corporation providing plant solutions, has introduced a robot-based maintenance system to automatically clean the high radiation area of nuclear power plants. The new system increased safety and efficiency by using robots to reduce working hours and manpower.
KEPCO KPS said its automatic cleaning system has been certified by the government as new excellent technology (NET) that would be protected to enhance national competitiveness.
The company automated the entire process of cleaning the reactor "stud hole" so that workers can safely maintain nuclear power plants from radiation exposure.
Fission reactions in nuclear power plants take place in reactors consisting of pressure containers and closer heads called "stud holes." Human workers have been mobilized for regular cleaning in high radiation areas. KEPCO KPS said it has acquired patents such as driving, centering, automatic cleaning, and the collection of foreign substances, based on precision control measurements as well as sensor and algorithm technologies.
"This new technology dramatically improves work safety through the 100 percent automation of maintenance in a high-risk radioactive environment," KEPCO KPS CEO Kim Hong-yeon said in a statement on September 29.
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