EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Joint EC, OECD, IAEA Specialists Meeting organised by:

• European Commission JRC, Institute for Advanced Materials -
• IAEA, IWG-LMNPP - OECD-NEA,
• CSNI-PWG3
and held at the Joint Research Centre, Institute for Advanced Materials, Petten, The Netherlands, on 11-13 March 1997

The organising committee for the meeting is composed of:

M. Davies P. Trampus F. Cazorla H. Schulz A. Miller L. Skånberg E. Sullivan F. Champigny P. Lemaitre F. Ammirato L. Becker S. Crutzen M. Bieth U. von Estorff B. Seysener

IAEA IWG LMNPP Chairman IAEA Division of Nuclear Power and Fuel Cycle IAEA Division of Nuclear Installation Safety OECD NEA CSNI PWG3 Chairman OECD NEA CSNI PWG3 Scientific Secretary NRWG Task Force on NDT qualification Chairman NRC ENIQ Chairman ENIQ Network Manager EPRI NDE Center Vice President EPRI NDE Center, PDI JRC Conference Chairman JRC local organisation, NDE Sector Head JRC local organisation, Scientific Secretary JRC Information and Marketing Unit IAM, responsible for local organisation

The International Specialists Meeting on NDE Techniques Capability Demonstration and Inspection Qualification was organised on March 11-13, 1997 by EC JRC IAM. This conference was intended to provide an international forum for the discussion of recent developments, results and experience with NDE techniques capability demonstration and inspection qualification methods.

Held under the auspices of the EC, OECD and the IAEA, it brought together 115 participants from the academic, research and industrial communities, 21 countries were represented, and a total of 40 presentations were given.

The meeting provided an opportunity to compare and assess the qualification principles as proposed or applied by the American Performance Demonstration Initiative, the European Network on Inspection Qualification and the IAEA in its proposed guidelines specific to WWER's.

The meeting addressed, in terms of state of the art, the capability demonstration of NDE procedures applied to the major nuclear reactor components. Special emphasis was placed on NDE techniques qualification to detect and size flaws in order to assure structural integrity during plant design life or beyond.

National positions or experience were presented showing the typical variety of applications of one or two general principles or methodologies in agreement with national legal and traditional aspects.

Experience developed by national qualification bodies and by pilot studies were rich in information concerning the difficulties which were encountered during the studies.

Risk Based Inspection concepts were explained due to their relevance with the setting of the ISI objectives and therefore the level of qualification required for each situation considered.

Several subjects were not fully developed which are, however, of importance in the qualification process: more meetings are expected to be organised on test assemblies fabrication, defect simulations and implantation, models application, qualification trials evaluation, etc.

The meeting was successful not only in view of the large attendance for such a specialists meeting, but also for its industrial relevance and the involvement of the participants in the discussion inside and outside the meeting room.

On behalf of the Organising Committee we gratefully acknowledge all those who have by their presence, their enthusiasm and the scientific work they presented, contributed to the success of the conference.

LIST OF CONTENTS

	page
Foreword	lll
Opening remarks JRC K. Törrönen	1
Opening remarks IAEA P. Trampus	2
Opening remarks OECD A. Miller	5
Background for Inspection Qualification S. Crutzen	6
Appendix Vlll and implementation by PDI L. Becker	8
U.S. Performance Demonstration Initiative - Lessons learned L. Becker	19
The European Methodology for qualification of NDT as developed by ENIQ F. Champigny, U. Sandberg, J. Whittle, G.Engl, S. Crutzen and P. Lemaitre	24
The IAEA Guidelines preparation for the qualification of WWER reactor components ISI F. Cazorla	37
U.S. NRC Perspective on Performance Demonstration of US Testing Systems E. Sullivan, R. Hermann, D. Terao, D. Naujock	44
German process of qualification M. Hansch,W. Hesselmann, R. Heumüller, A. Seibold	49
Necessary steps for Inspection Qualification in France F. Champigny, R. Tomasino	55
Regulatory views on the strategy followed in Belgium to qualify NDT systems P. Mignot, D. Moussebois, G. Hennaut, C. Roubens	64
Qualification process initiatives in Spain A. Sala SQC - Organisation and experiences from qualification	74
of NDE systems L. Gomersson	87
Adding value by Inspection Qualification C. Waites, J. Whittle	91
Qualification approach adopted so far in Switzerland W. Neumann	97
Nordtest guidelines on validation, performance description and comparison of NDE techniques (Abstract) O. Forli	102
ISI effectiveness improvement of WWER type primary circuit components L. Horacek, J. Zdarek	103
PDI experience and Primary Piping ISI Qualification in the USA L. Becker	111
Belgian response to ASME Xl requirements M. Lepiece, J-P. Lietard	125
Status of the ENIQ Pilot Study P. Lemaitre, B. Eriksen, J. Whittle	130
A successful PDI RPV examination qualification: Preparations, technical approach and results B. Jacobs, W. Clayton	142
Case study of qualification of remote automated ultrasonic inspection of austenitic pipe weld R. Booler, R. Owen, R. Chapman	150
Recent experiences of qualification performed by TRC T. Sjö	158
Capability demonstration of inspection techniques for primary piping of Loviisa NPP using a blind test block assembly R. Paussu, P. Särkiniemi	163
Reactor vessel bottom head penetration performance demonstration A. Bernard, A. Thomas	169
Validating Eddy Current array probes for inspecting steam generator tubes S. Sullivan, V. Cecco, L. Obrutsky, J. Lakhan, A. Park	177
Qualification of radiographic technique L. Hammer	185
Technical justification programme of Tecnatom to qualify ISI procedures and systems G. Bollini	190
Approaches for the validation of the testing methods in general applied to NDE C. Nockemann, C. Bellon, G. Tillack, S. Nickisch	196
Qualiffcation and certification of NDT personnel from NPPs in accordance with EN 473 N. Volkova, A. Mullin	211
Type of testing accreditation from the point of view of an application-oriented scientific instituto S. Kraus, R. Brinette	225
Status of Eddy Current inspection for steam generator tubes in Korean NPP Y. Cheong	230
Satety significance of AUGUR-4.2 on-site application during expert ISI A. Arjaev, S. Bougaenko	251
Assessment of the deterioration of concrete in NPP - Causea, effects and investigative methods P.Shaw,A.Xu	260
Improvement of NDE approaches and techniques at Ukrainian NPPs V. Kovyrshin, N. Zaritsky, O. Zinchenko	269
ENIQ Task 4: Risk Based Inspection O. V. Chapman	275
Risk-based inspection in the US F. Ammirato	279
Summary of the discussion S. Crutzen	287
Conclusion of the meeting S. Crutzen	291
List of participants	293