US Patent Issued to GE-HITACHI NUCLEAR ENERGY AMERICAS on Dec. 9 for "Systems for underwater tool positioning" (North Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,494,297, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to GE-HITACHI NUCLEAR ENERGY AMERICAS LLC (Wilmington, N.C.).

"Systems for underwater tool positioning" was invented by Vincent C. Vigliano (Wilmington, N.C.), Colin F. Kelemen (Wilmington, N.C.), Tyler B. Hull (Wilmington, N.C.) and Brandon Novak (Wilmington, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods position tools about a flooded nuclear reactor during maintenance outages without support structures connected above the systems or reactor. Systems may include annular clamps for support from a reactor steam dam, a telescoping mast, a motor or other drive to extend or retract the mast, a...