AVARIS. Further development of AREVA valve repair in-situ for dose-related applications

AREVA's innovative in-situ valve refurbishment process AVARIS provides a quick solution for reworking or reconditioning of valve seal seats and other functional geometries without extracting valves from the system. As a result of consequent further development the new AVARIS machine generation is applicable for gate, globe and check valves up to safety class one in all installation positions in primary and secondary circuits of nuclear power plants but also for conventional power plants. It offers great advantages for the global maintenance market in terms of time, effort and cost savings. In addition to that the semi-automated remote controlled CNC-technology minimizes the dose exposure for dose-related applications. The full process satisfies the quality specifications of German and international authorities. AVARIS has been successfully applied in various valve reconditioning projects in German and French nuclear power plants since 2010. Further follow-up orders in German and international plants, such as in France and Sweden, show that valve refurbishment with AVARIS heads to establish itself as a reliable and flexible process in power plants worldwide. (orig.)