NDTsi 2001 Session: Structural Integrity and NDE I-II
Role of NDT in Nuclear Power Plant Management
L.M. Davies, LMD Consultancy, B. Gueorguiev, P. Trampus, IAEA, Austria
ABSTRACT
Non-destructive testing (NDT) plays an essential role in assessing the structural integrity of the main components of nuclear power plants. On one hand, detecting and sizing flaws during periodic in-service inspection provides input data for fracture mechanics calculations and, on the other hand, monitoring material conditions by means of NDT can help assess material degradation processes in terms of crack or defect growth and thus contributes to possible early warning of component deterioration. Because no new plants are being brought into operation there is an increasing concern with improving the operational lifetime thereby increasing the electricity being generated and reducing the unit cost of electricity from a plant. In turn, this makes nuclear power more competitive. The IAEA's activities on the field of plant life management including NDT as well are embedded into the systematic programme of its Technical Working Group on Life Management of Nuclear Power Plants. This has provided the Director General of the IAEA with advice and opinions on the Agency's current and future activities in relation to life management, and has provided the Member States with information, recommendations and support for almost 25 years. The paper will provide an overview and analyse the technical and economic aspects of using NDT methods when developing life management strategy and programme with special regard to assessment of structural integrity and evaluation of remaining lifetime of nuclear power plant main components. It is intended to deal with its impact on plant operation and maintenance costs with special regard to planning and optimising maintenance outages and in-service inspection activities, increasing effectiveness of in-service inspection, deciding on main components' repair, refurbishment or even replacement, etc.
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]
