The computer aided cutting planning of components using genetic algorithms for decommissioning of a nuclear reactor
Journal
Annals of Nuclear Energy
Journal Volume
130
Pages
200-207
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Abstract
The nuclear equipment, like other industrial equipment, has a certain life cycle. After going through the stages of design, manufacturing, and operation, the nuclear equipment will step into the decommissioning phase. However, because decommissioned nuclear reactor components are usually large and highly radioactive wastes, they often need to be cut into smaller pieces and packed in approved containers for safe storage. The purpose of this study was to develop a computer-aided cutting planning software tool to reduce cutting resources and the amount of the secondary waste. This study used genetic algorithms to find an optimized cutting plan. The developed software tool can directly import SolidWorks 3-D models of nuclear reactor components for cutting path planning and export the results back to SolidWorks to generate the 3-D models of the cut pieces. The software tool includes a graphical user interface to allow users to select the types and sizes of the containers, the sizes of the cutting tools, and the nuclear reactor components to be cut. The results show that the software tool cannot only effectively propose the optimal path plan to cut the large decommissioned nuclear reactor components into smaller pieces but also meet all the cutting constraints.
Type
journal article