1.1 Intent:

1.1.1 This guide covers equipment used in shielded cell or canyon facilities for the processing of nuclear and radioactive materials. It is the intent of this guide to set down the conditions and practices that have been found necessary to ensure against or to minimize the failures and outages of equipment used under the subject circumstances.

1.1.2 It is intended that this guide record the principles and caveats that experience has shown to be essential to the design, fabrication, and installation of equipment capable of meeting the stringent demands of operating, dependably and safely, in a nuclear processing environment that operators can neither see nor reach directly.

1.1.3 This guide sets forth generalized criteria and guidelines for the design, fabrication, and installation of equipment used in this service. This service includes the processing of radioactive wastes. Equipment is placed behind radiation shield walls and cannot be directly accessed by the operators or by maintenance personnel because of the radiation exposure hazards. In the type of shielded cell or canyon facility of interest to users of this guide, either the background radiation level remains high at all times or it is impractical to remove the process sources of radiation to facilitate in situ repairs or carry out maintenance procedures on equipment. The equipment is operated remotely, either with or without visual access to the equipment.