Robot hunts sludge and hoses it away

Engineers are frustrated by the need to maintain equipment that tools can only reach with difficulty and that human hands cannot reach at all. Accessibility for inspection and maintenance is a frequently overlooked factor in the design of many types of equipment. Such is the case with pressurized-water-reactor (PWR) nuclear power plants that use steam generators. The steam generators form the boundary between the nuclear reactor coolant system and the secondary turbine cycle. Inspection and maintenance are hindered not only by inaccessibility but by radiation as well. To facilitate inspection and maintenance on the secondary side of these generators, Consolidated Edison of New York has collaborated in the development of a robot called Cecil - the Con Edison Combined Inspection and Lancing system. This article describe CECIL