a sludge lance for a tube and shell steam generator that has a central divider plate that extends substantially the length of a central tube lane substantially bisecting a hand hole through which the tube lane can be accessed . the sludge lance has a nozzle with a spring biased , reciprocally movable plunger that extends against the divider plate and is locked in position by a stream of high pressure cleaning fluid that traverses the nozzle and exits through jets to clean sludge from between the tubes . an alignment tool with a swing arm indexes the jets to assure they are properly aligned with the tube rows and spaced from the divider plate .