ITER Transfer Cask System: Status of design, issues and future developments

The Remote Handling tasks scheduled during the ITER maintenance shutdown require transportation of in-vessel components from the Vacuum Vessel ports, at all levels of the Tokamak building, to the docking stations in the Hot Cell building. This transfer of radioactive, contaminated components represents a task of unprecedented complexity for a nuclear device like ITER. A Transfer Cask System (TCS) has been adopted as a reference solution. The TCS is a mobile, leak-tight unit, which can be divided into: (1) the cask itself, i.e., the container for the components to be transferred, able to avoid spread of contamination outside its envelope, equipped with in-cask handling devices; (2) the interface pallet that assists the docking operations of the cask and, underneath; (3) an Air Transfer System (ATS), i.e., a mobile platform floating on air-cushions with drive and steering wheels powered by electric motors and batteries on-board. The system will be remotely controlled, moving along previously defined paths. This paper focuses on the present status of the ATS design, the issues to be faced and the future developments foreseen. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.