Remote operating vehicle for TMI-2 basement recovery

The remote core sampler is work tooling conceived to cut and to remove cylinders from concrete walls without human presence. It is transported, powered, and operated from the remote reconnaissance vehicle (RRV), whose initial missions explored the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) basement. The RRV missions mapped total field radiation at the surface of the basement walls. Now the pressing need is for a core sampling program to characterize the contaminants within the walls in order to plan cleanup operations. While conventional coring methods are mature and well understood, all positioning, forcing, sensing, and thinking for standard coring are done by humans at close proximity. The conditions that prevail in the basement of TMI-2 preclude humans and necessitate the first coring from a remote core sampler. The remote core sampler has been tested in mock-up conditions aboard the RRV, and it is viewed as a viable candidate for use in the nuclear environment. The ultimate measure of its relevance will be performance in a severe recovery situation