Optimising the Design and Implementation of NDT Inspection for New Nuclear Power

优化新建核电站无损检测的设计与实施。新核电厂的建设将给无损检测服务部门带来巨大压力。自1970年至1990年建成上一代工厂以来，市场有限，阻碍了对技术和熟练人员的投资，同时，随着从这些工厂的运营中吸取经验教训，工厂经营者和监管者的期望大大提高。因此，该行业将发现，由于全球变暖和能源安全方面的担忧，随着核电建设的复兴，满足对未来15年计划或计划建设的许多核电站进行高质量、可靠检查的需求将是非常具有挑战性的。这一挑战的规模如此之大，以至于该行业将不得不找到优化检查设计的方法，以提高应用速度和可靠性，同时降低检查过程的技能，以便更有效地利用现有的熟练人员。这项研究探讨了将现有的检测设计和建模工具相结合来设计和验证包含自动缺陷识别的先进无损检测检测技术的可行性。这些工具和方法在一个现实生活中的挑战--AP1000安全壳的检查中进行了测试。根据ASME III规范的要求，这一长约3.7公里的焊缝需要进行现场射线照相，这一过程将对建筑计划构成后勤挑战。使用计算机模拟设计和验证了特定RT检查的UT替代方案，并通过与代表性测试样本上的RT检查的性能直接比较来验证。

Optimising the Design and Implementaton of NDT Inspection for New Nuclear Power Plants. The construction of new nuclear NPPs will place tremendous strain on the NDT service sector. The limited market that has existed since the last generation of plants were completed in the period from 1970 to 1990 has discouraged investment in technology and skilled personnel, while at the same time the expectations of plant operators and regulators have increased considerably as lessons have been learned from the operation of those plants. As a result of this the industry will find it very challenging to meet the demands for high quality, reliable inspection for the many plants that are scheduled or planned for construction in the next 15 years as nuclear new build undergoes a renaissance in response to global warming and energy security concerns. The scale of the challenge is such that the industry will have to find ways of optimising inspection design to increase speed of application and reliability, while at the same time de-skilling the inspection process so that the available skilled personnel can be used more efficiently. This study examined the feasibility of combining exisitng inspection design and modelling tools to design and validate advanced NDT inspection techniques incorporating automated defect recognition. The tools and methodology were tested on a real-life challenge - the inspection of the AP1000 containment vessel. This has some 3.7km of welds requiring site radiography under ASME III code requirements, a process which will be a logistical challenge to the building programme. A UT alternative to the specifed RT inspection was designed and validated using computer modelling and verified by direct comparison with the performance of RT inspections on a representative test specimen.