E. MARTIN, V DIDIER
EDF/DIN/CEIDRE
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing
Lyon, France November 29, 2013
Contents
1. Maintenance Policy
2. Requirements and Needs
3. State of Arts of NDT Systems
4. Impact on the Human Resources
5. EDF Position
6. Conclusion
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
1. Maintenance Policy
As operating plants having to objective to extend their
licenses to operate from 40 years to 60 years and beyond:
•The nuclear industry has relied on specific NDE methods…especially
true for plants that are going through the license renewal process
• Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) plays a key role in managing material
aging, identifying degraded components in a timely manner
EDF will be preparing a major overhaul taking into account
a recovery of industrial performance. This performance is
based on improved :
•equipment reliability,
•organizational reliability,
•improved reliability of human activities…
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
2. Requirements
and Needs (1/2)
Most effort concerning the safety of nuclear power plants
is focused on reactors, boilers and turbines, but what about
shielded pipings within rigid steel or concrete supports
making the outside surface completely inaccessible to
conventional NDT Techniques ?
As part of this extension of lifespan, components that have
not been inspected to date are now faced with one-time
inspection requirements :
• Buried Pipes
•Tanks,
•……………
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
2. Requirements
and Needs (2/2)
With the concept of the “great fairing” during outages of
nuclear units, how to manage a huge of maintenance
activities in an invariable duration time of outage?
EDF chose, by voluntarism commitment, to reduce, when
technically possible, the recourse at radiographic techniques
But this choice imposes to be able to replace RT method
by alternative methods as, by example, UT method when
possible :
Capabilities' assessment
Environment (Accessibility, Dosimetry ..)
The cost of NDE must be minimized, as part of the overall
constraints on operation & maintenance costsInternational Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
3. State of Arts of NDT
Systems
Several NDE technologies used by other industries that
might have application for use in the nuclear industry.
NDE Modeling and Simulation methods for the
development, refinement, and demonstration of NDE
techniques
In our approach, the terminology other NDE technology
includes the following:
NDE technologies used in other industries
New or recently developed NDE technologies
Advanced NDE technologies
NDE technologies currently in research and development (R&D) at
universities or other research organizations
Tooling or devices used to deploy an NDE technology
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
4. Impact on the Human
Resources (1/2)
Each step of the chain of a deployment of NDT system is
important:
Specifications of the defect, components, environment, ...
responsibilities of the Plant Owner
Development, qualification of an NDT System to fit for purpose by the
vendor with a readiness procedure and a training dossier,
But if you have not the good tool in yours hands, it's not only the
practitioner at the end of the chain to support the flawed
performance of the inspection.
Human factors are often mistaken for human error, we prefer to
talk about HOF ( Human and Organizational Factors) in the
objectives: Improved Organizational reliability
Improved reliability of human activities (Greater training investment)
Usability of the inspection procedure
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
4. Impact on the Human
Resources (2/2)
10th International Conference on NDE in relation to structural integrity for Nuclear and Pressurised Components - CANNES 2013 - october 1st
The procedure needs not only to contain all the relevant
information, but also communicate the information in a way which
allows the operator to conduct the task effectively and efficiently.
The personnel in charge to develop an NDT system is
Engineering personnel and, sometimes forget the personnel in
charge to implement on site taking into account environment and
their skillfulness.
At the end, it’s important having :
clear communication (communication that goes both ways –
from the sender to the receiver and back)
clear responsibilities (of vendors and the utilities) and roles
of each operator
awareness of the limitations of the procedure International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
5. EDF Position (1/2)
EDF reaffirm the position of operator accountable for nuclear
safety and accountable in front of the society.
EDF needs to acquire knowledge about new applied Non-
Destructive Engineering (NDE) techniques and their efficiency (No
Black Boxes).
New methods and techniques shall demonstrate that they are
in capability reaching the objectives, by providing performances
demonstration evidence.
It’s not just in using Advanced NDE technologies that can give rise
to shortcuts of delays and costs of the outages. It’s dangerous to
believe we are before Black Arts. The most important fundamental
of applying any NDT methods is knowing and understanding the
limitationsInternational Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
5. EDF Position (2/2)
Today, the concept of French nuclear safety brings EDF to
register its own approach in determinists NDE solutions
Justifications of artificial defect representativeness which has to
be also embedded in representative mock-ups (material,
thickness, geometry, environment...) versus a genuine defect in
front of the physical phenomena exploited for the performances
demonstrations
EDF needs to investigate the international experiences of SHM
from the nuclear industry and wants to have more information
about the capabilities and the limitations of NDE methods used for
SHM of piping
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
6. Conclusion
An urgent need to optimize maintenance aiming at improving
both reliability and competitiveness of nuclear power plant
operation
The emphasis for NDE must be put on reliability, ease to
implement with reduced cost
In spite of some difficulties and restrictions, the replacement
of radiographic method by robust and industrial alternative
methods, when possible (in particular, in ferritics materials), is a
promising way already committed
Methods and techniques which can be applied on insulated
components and also the recourse to global methods, offer very
interesting ways that need to be explored
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013
6. Conclusion (Cont)
The most important benefits of implementing a SHM system
must be avoidance of premature breakdown, reduced
maintenance cost, supervision at remote sides and remote
diagnosis, and improvement of the system’s capacity factor
BUT We need to know the Technology Readiness Levels
(TRLs) of the NDT system proposed because that is giving
assessments of the maturity of a particular technology and the
consistent comparison of maturity between different types of
technology we will optimize the fit for purpose
International Symposium on Structural Health Monitoring and Non Destructive Testing Lyon, France November 29, 2013