NDE in the US Nuclear Industry - Trends and Emerging Issues
F. Ammirato, EPRI, USA
ABSTRACT
Since the last conference in this new series was held in New Orleans in May 2000, several major challenges have been placed before the NDE community serving the US Nuclear Industry. Discovery of several cases of stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in PWR components late in 2000 and early 2001 have increased the attention given to NDE of dissimilar metal welds, particularly in PWR units. This comes at the same time that new requirements are taking effect for qualifying inspection procedures and personnel through ASME Code Appendix VIII as specified in the US code of federal regulations. These circumstances have focussed industry's resources on developing, qualifying, and applying effective NDE methods to meet these stringent demands. The shrinking supply of qualified personnel is increasingly evident and poses a considerable challenge to the future capability of the industry to adequately maintain an adequate workforce. Risk-informed inspection was discussed at the last conference as a new initiative to focus more inspection resources on safety-significant locations as a means to achieve more effective inspection. This effort has been extraordinarily successful with more than 60 nuclear units worldwide now in various phases of implementing this methodology. This paper will review the US industry response to these developments.
Publication Source: 3nd International Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity for Nuclear and Pressurized Components, November 14-16, 2001, Seville Spain. Publisher: Tecnatom s.a. - [Homepage]
