Concept of operation of the remote handling system for the ITER vacuum vessel pressure suppression system

A concept of the remote handling (RH) tools to maintain the components of the ITER Vacuum Vessel Pressure Suppression System (VVPSS) is developing. These RH tools are designed to remove and replace the rupture disk assembly and the bleed line valve assembly, to clean the relief lines, and to perform any associated operations to maintain them. The RH tools work together with the Neutral Beam Remote Handling System (NBRHS). The main functions of the RH tools are disconnection and connection of the bolted flanges, keeping the static confinement during the RH operations, limiting the spread of contamination, and vacuum or water jet cleaning of the contamination inside the relief line. The RH interfaces in the components are defined during the design process of the RH tools in collaboration with the VVPSS component designers. An RH sequence study is being carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the maintenance operations within the constrained NB cell environment, and the capability of the NBRHS.