PUREX Connector Pressure Testing

Example of Load Cell

Example of Fixturing

The scope of this project is to perform the testing required to qualify the 3-inch Plutonium Uranium Extraction (PUREX) connectors to support waste feed delivery by the Double-Shell Tank System at Hanford. New waste transfer systems being designed and installed require higher design pressures. The connectors need to be qualified for the higher design pressures to permit their use in these Systems in accordance with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Piping Code, ASME B31.3, Process Piping.

The project involves the preparation of the test equipment and test hardware including test fixtures with the necessary mechanical linkage and moment arms necessary to apply tightening torques and external loads to the connectors, measuring instruments, calibrations, and testing.

Test instrumentation measures the ambient air and water temperatures, the torque applied to the operating screw, the clamping force, and the strains of critical components. Critical components include the nozzle flange, the fingers (hooks), hook pins and tips, and block top. The connector components are instrumented with strain gauges that are monitored as the loads are applied.

The Mechanical Solutions Group has a very successful record of deploying remote systems in radiological zones. In support of Hanford projects, the team has deployed six remote systems for inspection and characterization missions over the past few years. The technologies include robots, camera systems, and ultrasonic sensing devices. Most of these inspections, when completed, resulted in award of performance fees for the client, and significant press coverage on TV, and in newspapers, books, and trade magazines across the United States.

Project Contact: S. Bailey