Heavy gauge plates for nuclear application

The production of energy from nuclear sources leads to the building of very large vessels working under pressure at elevated temperatures, requiring very thick steel plate (from 50 mm to 300 mm). The plates necessary for the production of these vessels have to be as large as possible in order to reduce the length of welds on the vessels. Those two requirements lead to the manufacture of heavy products from 10 to 80 tons unit weight. These products are special, because their fabrication requires very big facilities and also extremely high quality of the steel. The main points are: high cleanliness; properties as homogeneous as possible. The tests carried out on industrially produced plates (especially on a plate of 200 mm thick show the level of quality that can be reached