A hot cell is a heavily shielded room in which radioactive materials can be handled remotely using robotic (see picture) or otherwise remote manipulators and viewed through shielded windows. Many hot cells have walls made of concrete or metal which are a meter or more in thickness. These allow extremely radioactive items to be manipulated and worked upon without exposing operators to dangerous amounts of radiation. Hot cells are used to inspect spent nuclear fuel rods and to work with other items which are high-energy gamma ray emitters. For instance, the processing of medical isotopes, having been irradiated in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator, would be carried out in a hot cell. Hot cells are of proliferation concern, as they can be used to carry out the chemical steps used to extract plutonium from reactor fuel. The cutting of the used fuel, the dissolving of the fuel and the first extraction cycle of a nuclear reprocessing PUREX process (highly active cycle) would need to be done in a hot cell. The second cycle of the PUREX process (medium active cycle) could be done in glove boxes. A hot cell lite is sometimes used for industrial radiography, here a shielded room is constructed, and the radiographic equipment placed inside it along with the object which is to be examined. The radiographic equipment is then operated by remote control to enable the radiographers to work closely to the work without incurring a large dose of radiation.[1]
