In 1992, Electrabel, the Belgian Utility, decided to use new qualified procedures for all mandatory inservice inspections. For the Reactor Pressure Vessel, the qualification process was conducted through a close collaboration between the vendor (Intercontrôle) and a technical group formed by Electrabel (the Owner) and Tractebel Energy Engineering (Architect Engineer). This group plays the role of Qualification Body.

The whole qualification process, performed in an industrial context, has shown the importance of:

• a thorough review of the construction files and of the PSI and previous ISI results);
• a detailed definition of the inspection objectives: type, size and localisation of defects to be detected or discriminated, level of characterisation of the indications. . . ;
• a systematic verification of the NDE procedure performance, for each considered ISI objective or situation;
• the feedback from site experience on procedure and qualification optimisation;
• a multi-disciplinary approach (NDE, degradation mechanisms, structural integrity)

The paper will present how:

• the initial inspection requirements and the methodology of qualification were specified, by combining the rules of the Section XI of the ASME code (edition 92) and the European Methodology for Qualification (ENIQ Guidelines);
• the NDE procedures have been permanently improved during the qualification process;
• the procedure performance and limitations have been determined and demonstrated by an adequate combination of tests on blocks and technical justification (mathematical modelling, parametric studies, . . . );

In conclusion, the paper will also give the lessons learned from the first on site experiences of Reactor Pressure Vessel ISI with qualified NDE procedure.