The Phoenix surge line inspection manipulator, APSIS, was originally commissioned for Intercontrole (Areva) and Babcocks (Doosan) in 1995 to inspect the safe end and surge line to primary circuit welds for the EDF fleet in France. The system has been in operation ever since and has been continuously refined.
The latest generation of the system includes couplant recovery at the probes and recirculation to reduce the quantity of wastewater and hence reduce potential low active waste disposal.