The SPES target chamber remote handling system

In the framework of the EURISOL [1] program to define a second generation RIB (Radioactive Ion Beam) facility, LNL-INFN is constructing in the next five years a specialized national facility for exotic beams based on ISOL method with a uranium compound target, named SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) [2]. The RIBs are produced inside the target chamber complex. For radioprotection issues, the SPES target chamber [3] must be easily and safely removed, for servicing or storing, from the beam lines after the irradiation process. The design of the SPES layout strongly takes into account this effect. In fact, two independent devices are designed for the handling process, one in horizontal and the other in vertical direction, of the target chamber unit device, which contains the production target and ion source complex. The remote handling system, at present adopted for the SPES project, is presented and discussed in this work.