Development of a Trans-World Reactor Vessel Examination System

Abstract

All three regions of Framatome ANP (Intercontrole in France, intelligeNDT in Germany, and Framatome ANP Inc. in the US) perform pressurized water reactor (PWR) vessel examinations however; each region has historically used different technologies to perform this work. A study was performed in 2001 to assess the feasibility of a common reactor vessel examination tool to service world markets. Although the study concluded there would be some necessary differences regarding regional code considerations, a common set of building blocks could be developed as a foundation for a next-generation tool. A plan was formulated to jointly produce a Trans-World reactor vessel examination System (TWS) to support all three markets. Generally the building blocks included a new robot, a phased array ultrasonic test (PAUT) system, and an advanced analysis system. The advanced robot design was substantially completed in 2002 and was developed to support conventional ultrasonic test (UT) methods with the flexibility to change over to PAUT technology after PAUT qualifications are complete. The robot is designed for higher accuracy and faster scan speeds than previous delivery mechanisms and to facilitate in-containment logistics resulting in shorter vessel occupation times (VOT). This paper discusses the collaborative TWS development project.