The water-shielded cave facility for totally enclosed master-slave operations at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Abstract

An efficient, flexible, and relatively simple system of enclosures for the handling of multicurie amounts of alpha, gamma, and neutron-emitting isotopes has been developed by the Health Chemistry Department at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley. It has been in operation since April 1961. This system consists basically of interlocking 4-ft water tanks that form the shielding around the leaktight primary enclosure in which operations are conducted by means of totally socked master-slave manipulators. This facility has been successfully used for procedures ranging from multicurie chemical separations to highly refined microtechniques. It has served equally well for metallurgical examinations and remote machining and welding procedures. The cost of this totally equipped facility was approximately ,000. (auth)