Year
1993
Abstract
The Automated Retirement and Integrated Extraction System (ARIES) is a new development and demonstration glove-box line planned for installation at TA-55. The mission of ARIES is development of advanced technologies for disassembly of retired plutonium weapons components. ARIES is subdivided into the following subsystems: Receiving (airlock to system controlled atmosphere), Disassembly (parts are separated into hemishells), Plutonium Consolidation, Americium Removal, Decontamination (removal of trace plutonium from nonplutonium parts), and Nondestructive Assay (NDA). The ARIES NDA subsystem consists of four computer-based NDA instruments (calorimeter, gamma-ray isotopic system, segmented gamma scanner, and an active/passive neutron multiplicity counter); a robot to load and unload the instruments; and a host computer to sense and control the instrument status, schedule measurements, archive the results of the assays, and direct the activities of the robot. The NDA subsystem will be fully integrated into the ARIES process line and will provide assays of nuclear material that are inherently safer and more efficient than nonautomated systems.