Radiation protection aspects of articulated master slave manipulator maintenance at CORAL facility

Nuclear facilities greatly rely upon Master Slave Manipulators (MSMs) to carry out various operations in hot cells in a safe and remote manner, minimizing dose to the workers. Over the years, various types of MSMs were introduced to meet the specific demands of various facilities and complexities of operations involved and hence it has become an indispensable part of the hot cells. While skilled manpower always enhances the efficiency of MSMs, build quality and materials used also adds to its reliability. Compact Reprocessing of Advanced fuels in Lead cell (CORAL) is a lead walled hot cell reprocessing pilot facility operated with the philosophy of remote operations and contact maintenance. All the various day-to-day tasks are accomplished here with the help of 12 articulated MSMs (AMSM). Being a mechanical tool, AMSM is also prone to wear and tear even after careful design and material selection.This paper presents the summary of both preventive and breakdown maintenance carried out in AMSMs during the last 15 years at CORAL facility witha radiation protection perspective. (author)