Challenge
The access was very limited and thermal cutting methods posed safety concerns. Numerous seismic and rupture restraints made of structural steel components up to 9″ thick had to be cut to provide the necessary access and clearance.
To accomplish this we drilled two 18″ core holes in the side of the containment building, which SGT used for rigging at the opening where the steam generators would be removed. We then mobilized in the steam generator enclosures inside the containment building. Our extremely compact diamond wire saws were custom designed to be mounting with magnets and operated by remote control to cut the steel restraints, releasing the steam generators for removal. We used beadless diamond wire specific to this purpose, with misters for cooling the wire which minimized contaminated effluents to near zero. This specially designed system safely and efficiently removed the obstacles.