Speaker
Description
At the heart of the ISIS Neutron and muon source, are target stations that use a 25-metre-long trolley system to transfer the TRaM from the centre of the monolith in the target station into a hot cell, referred to as the remote handling cell (RHC), for maintenance. This approach reduces the duration of maintenance shutdowns without the requirement to dismantle shielding and plant equipment to access critical components. In July 2025, after over 40 years of operation, on target station one (TS1), the 400T trolley became jammed partway into its operating position, preventing the operation of the target station.
This presentation describes the story of overcoming the engineering challenges of a recovery that had never been tried before in the history of ISIS. It will detail the rapid response to design, test tooling and, to remotely remove the obstruction located out of reach and visibility of the RHC, combined with the additional obstacles of how to get the tooling into the cell though a one-meter square posting port, and position it into an area without crane coverage, all while allowing it to be controlled with remote manipulators.