Optioneering of transportation systems in nuclear facilities

The transportation operations that are required to perform during the lifetime of a nuclear reactor are not feasible by in-situ human interaction. To address this subject, remote handling is the current leading solution in the nuclear industry, as well as other challenging environment-related industries. This paper addresses the current market’s availability of mobile robots that can handle the transportation of activated heavy loads inside nuclear fusion scenarios. An analysis and selection method (ASM), the Optioneering Analytic Hierarchy Process (OAHP) is addressed to perform a comparative evaluation and determine not only the best option among the selected ones, but also to point out the best features that a transportation system should have to accomplish all the required tasks of transportation. The OAHP is filled with two different data sources. The first OAHP is filled by the first author of the paper, while the second one is produced with the results of a survey. The participants of the survey are experts in the remote handling field. In the end, the results of both OAHPs are compared. Finally, a new ASM is developed combining the OAHP and the Sifting method, entitled Hybrid Selection Method. The Hybrid Selection method is developed to surpass some of the disadvantages found in the OAHP and also in the Sifting method, achieving a simple selection process and the ability to produce the comparison tables automatically. The results are used to analyse and compare these selection methods. •Assessment of transportation systems to handle activated loads in nuclear reactors.•Selection and definition of evaluation criteria.•Assessment of analysis and selection methods.•Implementation of a survey to compare the opinions of experts in the field.•Development of a new method based on other analysis and selection methods.