Factors affecting remote handling productivity during installation of the ITER-like wall at JET

Abstract

Remote handling operations at JET have encountered many challenges to achieve the installation of the ILW beryllium sliced wall during the Enhanced Performance stage 2 (EP2) shutdown of JET. This was a demanding and challenging activity which was based on the experience gained from a period of over 15 years (20,000h operations) of JET In-Vessel remote handling operations.This paper describes the difference between estimated remote handling in-vessel durations and those actually achieved with a view to quantifying the typical disparity between them.There are many factors that affect productivity of the remote handling operations and it is important to accommodate these either in the design of the component or within the production of the operational procedures with a view to minimise all impact on the final task duration.Some factors that affect the efficiency are outside the control of the design and operational procedures. These are unforeseen anomalies that were encountered during the removal, naked wall survey and installation of the components. Recoveries from these anomalies are extremely challenging and need to be addressed efficiently in order to minimise the impact on the shutdown duration and prevent optimised panned activities from becoming inefficient by fragmentation.