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As part of the unit aging follow-up, a non.destructive examination has been designed to inspect the core zone of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV). This ultrasonic process called “VPM” has been developed and qualified by Intercontrole in accordance with EDF specifications. The qualification has been attested by an accredited qualification body. In 1999, the VPM process was used the first time during the in-service inspection of TRICASTIN, unit 1. As a result of the RPV core zone inspection a set of under cladding flaw indications was detected and characterized with the VPM process. These flaws have been analysed as planar manufacturing flaws. In 2003, 4 cycles later, during the TRICASTIN Unit 1 outage inspection, “VPM” was used to characterize again this set of flaw indications in order to verify their dimensions. The changes of the main characteristics (specially height) between both the inspections were compared to the process accuracy. No significant dimension change has been recorded.Copyright © 2004 by ASME |
