Westinghouse and Tecnatom have carried out an inspection of the reactor vessel closure head at the Belgian Doel 1 nuclear power plant. The collaboration between the two companies allows for full compliance with the inspection programmes, designed on the basis of the 10CFR50.55a standard. These programmes require the use of ultrasonic and eddy current equipment and techniques for the inspection of the vessel head penetrations, along with the STAR remote equipment designed by Tecnatom, which allows a wide variety of sensors to be used for the performance of the inspection measures.
The technology and experience of these two companies allow for the development of inspection programmes providing a series of advantages, such as speed, accuracy and confidence in the data obtained using ultrasonic, eddy current and visual techniques. In addition, the use of the STAR remote equipment implies a clear optimisation of doses during the performance of the work, for both the plant personnel and the Westinghouse and Tecnatom operators.
The two companies have been collaborating closely in this area of inspection for almost 15 years, during which time they have undertaken work on reactor vessels in Sweden, United States, Finland, Japan, Taiwan and Spain.
