Remote Maintenance and Handling
Activated in-vessel components are serviced by remote handling, keeping workers out of the highest-dose regions entirely.
The components closest to the plasma — the first wall and blanket — receive the most neutron flux and become the most activated. Rather than expose workers to these regions, Kronos services them with remote handling: manipulators and transfer systems that replace and repair components without human entry into the high-dose zone.
What remote handling provides
- Worker exclusion: no hands-on work in the highest-activation regions.
- Contamination control: activated components transferred in sealed casks.
- Dose reduction: the single largest ALARA measure for in-vessel work.
- Maintainability: designed-in access so components can be exchanged reliably.
Remote maintenance is designed in from the start: components are built as replaceable modules with defined handling interfaces, and the machine layout provides remote access paths. This is standard practice for high-activation environments and is a decades-old discipline in nuclear and accelerator facilities. Activated parts move to interim storage in shielded casks to decay before recycling or disposal — see the waste material.
Staged access
Regions of lower activation become accessible to workers after a decay period, under ALARA controls and radiation surveys — see post-shutdown fields. The combination of remote handling for the hottest parts and staged hands-on access for the rest keeps occupational dose low.
The burner's low activation reduces even the remote-handling burden, since less material becomes significantly activated.