A plastically deformable almen strip is held under a predetermined underwater environment in which water jet peening is carried out, and a result of providing compressive residual stress in the water jet peening is confirmed by jetting water jet to the almen strip.

A plastically deformable almen strip is held under a predetermined underwater environment in which water jet peening is carried out, and a result of providing compressive residual stress in the water jet peening is confirmed by jetting water jet to the almen strip.

Provided is a water jet peening apparatus and a water jet peening method including: a clamping cylinder (201) which is able to be disposed at the outer peripheral side of an instrumentation nozzle (83) with a predetermined gap therebetween; a clamping piece (210) which is able to fix the clamping cylinder (201) to the instrumentation nozzle (83); a nozzle guide (221) which has a cylindrical shape, is provided inside the clamping cylinder (201), and is positioned to a position adjacent to the upper end of the instrumentation nozzle (83); an inner surface WJP nozzle (105) which is movable upward and downward inside the nozzle guide (221); and a drainage hole (224) which radially penetrates the nozzle guide (221). Accordingly, it is possible to improve the safety of the operation by preventing a thimble tube from being popped out due to a water jet peening operation.

Provided is a water jet peening apparatus and a water jet peening method including: a clamping cylinder (201) which is able to be disposed at the outer peripheral side of an instrumentation nozzle (83) with a predetermined gap therebetween; a clamping piece (210) which is able to fix the clamping cylinder (201) to the instrumentation nozzle (83); a nozzle guide (221) which has a cylindrical shape, is provided inside the clamping cylinder (201), and is positioned to a position adjacent to the upper end of the instrumentation nozzle (83); an inner surface WJP nozzle (105) which is movable upward and downward inside the nozzle guide (221); and a drainage hole (224) which radially penetrates the nozzle guide (221). Accordingly, it is possible to improve the safety of the operation by preventing a thimble tube from being popped out due to a water jet peening operation.

Provided is a remotely operated manipulator which can be applied to a space which is wider on a back side than at an opening part, which has a simple structure, high stiffness, and high reliability. The remotely operated manipulator of the present invention includes: a circular base fixed to a wall surface; a beam which rotates on the circular base; a trolley which moves on the beam; and a mast which is raised and lowered with respect to the trolley and is mounted with a tool unit at a tip. Stiffness is improved by directly fixing the beam to the wall surface by a beam fixing device. Further, a work region is expanded by mounting a bending mast on the tip of the mast.

Provided is a remotely operated manipulator which can be applied to a space which is wider on a back side than at an opening part, which has a simple structure, high stiffness, and high reliability. The remotely operated manipulator of the present invention includes: a circular base fixed to a wall surface; a beam which rotates on the circular base; a trolley which moves on the beam; and a mast which is raised and lowered with respect to the trolley and is mounted with a tool unit at a tip. Stiffness is improved by directly fixing the beam to the wall surface by a beam fixing device. Further, a work region is expanded by mounting a bending mast on the tip of the mast.

This invention generally concerns robotic systems and is specifically concerned with an improved apparatus and method for inspecting nuclear reactor components in limited access areas, such as, the core annulus, core spray and feedwater sparger regions of a nuclear reactor. This invention includes an apparatus for remotely operating and positioning at least one inspection device for inspecting at least one component in an annulus region of a reactor pressure vessel of a nuclear power plant. The apparatus includes a track, a braking system and a frame assembly which has a frame movably connected to the track, at least one mast assembly and at least one mast positioning assembly. The at least one inspection device is attached to the at least one mast assembly. In certain embodiments, the at least one mast assembly includes a mast that is capable of becoming rigidly stable in both an extended tube form and a retracted rolled form.

This invention generally concerns robotic systems and is specifically concerned with an improved apparatus and method for inspecting nuclear reactor components in limited access areas, such as, the core annulus, core spray and feedwater sparger regions of a nuclear reactor. This invention includes an apparatus for remotely operating and positioning at least one inspection device for inspecting at least one component in an annulus region of a reactor pressure vessel of a nuclear power plant. The apparatus includes a track, a braking system and a frame assembly which has a frame movably connected to the track, at least one mast assembly and at least one mast positioning assembly. The at least one inspection device is attached to the at least one mast assembly. In certain embodiments, the at least one mast assembly includes a mast that is capable of becoming rigidly stable in both an extended tube form and a retracted rolled form.

A system configured to monitor the structural health of reactor vessel internals of a nuclear reactor is disclosed herein. The system includes a memory configured to store historical information associated with past performance of the nuclear reactor, and an anomaly detection subsystem including a control circuit configured to receive a signal from a sensor. The anomaly detection subsystem is configured to determine, via the control circuit, a characteristic of a vibrational response of the reactor vessel internals based, at least in part, on the signal; access, via the control circuit, the historical information stored in the memory; compare, via the control circuit, the determined characteristic to the historical information stored in the memory; and determine, via the control circuit, a condition of the reactor vessel internals based, at least in part, on the comparison of the determined characteristic and the historical information.

A vision-based state estimation framework to estimate the state of an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used for inspection of an underwater structure, for example, a nuclear reactor pressure vessel. The framework employs an external overhead, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera as the primary sensing modality and incorporates prior knowledge of the geometry of the structure.