Maintenance approach and remote equipment design for FER

The latest FER remote maintenance concept and various remote equipments design are described. Reactor concept of the FER is decided based primarily on tradeoffs between reliability of maintenance scheme and minimization of capital costs. Key features of the FER structure are: 1) the most reliable maintenance procedure, 2) optimization of PF coil allocation, 3) installation of sacrificed ''guard limiter'' on the inboard first wall area against off-normal conditions, and 4) reliable and simple shielding structure (water-tank type shield). Local guard limiters are designed to be easily replaceable without breaking a plasma vacuum. Outboard shield and divertor modules are planned to be removed by horizontal access with reliable single straight-line motion. Transfer casks are prepared for the containment of tritium and activated debris during transportation. As for equipments, design study puts emphasis upon the ''inboard/outboard limiter handling equipments'', ''transfer cask for tritium/radioactive debris'', and ''in-vessel manipulator system for inspection''. This paper consists of general description of the FER, design philosophy, design conditions, maintenance procedure, remote handling equipments, repair facility, and urgent R and D issues/JAERI's R and D programme for remote handling. (author). 7 refs, 6 figs, 3 tabs