A methodology to simulate the cutting process for a nuclear dismantling simulation based on a digital manufacturing platform

This study proposes a methodology to simulate the cutting process in a digital manufacturing platform for the flexible planning of nuclear facility decommissioning. During the planning phase of decommissioning, visualization and verification using process simulation can be powerful tools for the flexible planning of the dismantling process of highly radioactive, large and complex nuclear facilities. However, existing research and commercial solutions are not sufficient for such a situation because complete segmented digital models for the dismantling objects such as the reactor vessel, internal assembly, and closure head must be prepared before the process simulation. The preparation work has significantly impeded the broad application of process simulation due to the complexity and workload. The methodology of process simulation proposed in this paper can flexibly handle various dismantling processes including repetitive object cuttings over heavy and complex structures using a digital manufacturing platform. The proposed methodology, which is applied to dismantling scenarios of a Korean nuclear power plant in this paper, is expected to reduce the complexity and workload of nuclear dismantling simulations. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.